PAPAVERINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does papaverine mean? 

• PAPAVERINE (noun)
  The noun PAPAVERINE has 1 sense:

1. an alkaloid medicine (trade name Kavrin) obtained from opium; used to relax smooth muscles; it is nonaddictive

  Familiarity information: PAPAVERINE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PAPAVERINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An alkaloid medicine (trade name Kavrin) obtained from opium; used to relax smooth muscles; it is nonaddictive

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

Kavrin; papaverine

Hypernyms ("papaverine" is a kind of...):

muscle relaxant (a drug that reduces muscle contractility by blocking the transmission of nerve impulses or by decreasing the excitability of the motor end plate or by other actions)

 Context examples 

As a direct-acting smooth muscle relaxant, papaverine is not closely related to the other opium alkaloids in structure or pharmacological actions; its mechanism of action may involve the non-selective inhibition of phosphodiesterases and direct inhibition of calcium channels.

(Papaverine, NCI Thesaurus)