Rocuronium bromide (brand names Zemuron, Esmeron) is an aminosteroid non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocker or muscle relaxant used in modern anaesthesia to facilitate tracheal intubation by providing skeletal muscle relaxation, most commonly required for surgery or mechanical ventilation. Rocuronium bromide is a competitive antagonist for the nicotinic acetyl-choline receptors at the neuromuscular junction. Of the neuromuscular-blocking drugs it is considered to be a non-depolarizing neuromuscular junction blocker, because it acts by dampening the receptor action causing muscle relaxation, instead of continual depolarisation which is the mechanism of action of the depolarizing neuromuscular junction blockers, like succinylcholine. It was designed to be a weaker antagonist at the neuromuscular junction than pancuronium; hence its monoquaternary structure and its having an allyl group and a pyrrolidine group attached to the D ring quaternary nitrogen atom. Rocuronium has a rapid onset and intermediate duration of action. Here you can see an amazing recent cryoEM structure of the Torpedo nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in complex with rocuronium (PDB code: 8F2S)

#molecularart ... #immolecular ... #receptor ... #rocuronium ... #muscle ... #relaxant ... #blocker ... #cryoem

Structure rendered with @proteinimaging and depicted with @corelphotopaint