DefinePK

Abstract

Strychnos nux-vomica L. (Strychnine tree) is from the genus Strychnos of the family Loganiaceae. It is a medium sized tree with white flowers and 3 nerved leaves. Traditionally, Unani/Eastern Medicine (EM) physicians have used it for hundreds of years. According to the philosophy of EM, it is used in phlegmatic diseases like paralysis, facial palsy, ptosis, gout, joint pain, sciatica etc. It is used as a single medicine as well as in compound formulations. This article is focused to elaborate its uses in nervine and joint disorders. Scientific databases including, PubMed, Elsevier and Google scholar were explored for the research. Articles were included from 2008 to 2023 in the above-mentioned search engine. Different key words used were “Azaraqi”, “Strychnos nux vomica”, “Sciatica”, “arthritis”, “nervine disorders”, and “joints disorders”. Strychnos nux vomica as an individual drug and its combination with other drugs as a compound medicine can be used in treatment of facial palsy, epilepsy, gout, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cervical spondylosis, and sciatica. It was also found that the species has promising anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsant, anti-arthritic, anti-epileptogenic, and anti-oxidant activities. Additionally, it can also help in the regeneration of damaged nerve. From this study, it can be concluded that Strychnine tree can be a leading candidate in treating different nervine and specially, joint disorders which is supported by case studies. However, more mechanistic evidence and research through in-vitro, in-vivo, and clinical studies are required particularly for joint disorders.