Drugs as Tools in Neurotransmitter Research

Serendipitous discovery has played an important role m the identification of physiological mechanisms in central and peri- eral neurotransmission. In many cases, the subsequent followup of these discoveries has been substantially aided by previouslyiden- fied natural substances that interfered with these mechanisms. The site of neuromuscular blockade produced by curare extracts, for example, was shown in the 1850s by Claude Bernard, and Sir Henry H. Dale m 1906 discovered the reversal of th...