papaverine

1 9.6

A medicine that relaxes muscles inside blood vessels or the stomach

noun
/ˌpæpəˈvɪrin/

Specialized

: papaverina

After the injection of papaverine, the patient's discomfort from muscle spasms significantly decreased.

Examples

(vii) injection of 7 mg papaverine to exert maximum endothelium-independent increase in coronary blood flow; (n18) and

Academic text (1991)
Papaverine increased blood flow by 367% (42).

Academic text (1991)
Line patency was verified and papaverine was administered into the limb via the arterial catheter.

Academic text (2015)
The doctor prescribed papaverine to help relax the smooth muscles in the patient's blood vessels.
In cases of severe gastrointestinal spasms, papaverine can be administered to provide relief.

Synonyms

hyoscyamine

vspapaverine

Specialized

1 9.9

A poisonous chemical from some plants that doctors use to treat stomach cramps

is an opium-derived alkaloid used specifically for vessel and gastrointestinal spasms

Kavrin

vspapaverine

Specialized

9.9

A medicine from opium that relaxes muscles inside the body, for example the stomach, without causing addiction

is used mainly for blood vessel and gastrointestinal spasms specifically

Surface Forms

papaverine singular

papaverines plural

Morphology

papaverine = poppy (opaque) = papaver + ine

Formed from the Latin root 'papaver' (poppy) plus the chemical suffix '-ine'; this is a technical chemical name and the relation to 'poppy' is not transparently meaningful to an average B1 learner.

Etymology

Papaverine comes from the Latin papaver meaning 'poppy' and the chemical ending -ine. That's why papaverine is a medicine originally from the poppy plant that is used to relax smooth muscles.