identification of antidiabatic activity strychnos nux-vomica roots

S. Tripathi et al., IJSID 2011, 1 (3), 30-33
INTRODUCTION
Strychnos nux-vomica is a medium-sized tree with a short, crooked, thick trunk, the wood is white hard,
close grained, durable and the root very bitter. Branches irregular, covered with a smooth ash coloured bark;
young shoots deep green, shiny; leaves opposite, short stalked, oval, shiny, smooth on both sides, about 4 inches
long and 3 broad; flowers small, greeny-white, funnel shape, in small terminal cymes, blooming in the cold season
and having a disagreeable smell. Fruit about the size of a large apple with a smooth hard rind or shell which when
ripe is a lovely orange colour, filled with a soft white jelly-like pulp containing five seeds covered with a soft
woolly-like substance, white and horny internally. The seeds are removed when ripe, cleansed, dried and sorted;
they are exported from Cochin, Madras and other Indian ports. The seeds have the shape of flattened disks densely
covered with closely appressed satiny hairs, radiating from the centre of the flattened sides and giving to the seeds
a characteristic sheen; they are very hard, with a dark grey horny endosperm in which the small embryo is
embedded; no odour but a very bitter taste. Nux Vomica contains the alkaloids, Strychnine and Brucine, also traces
of strychnicine, and a glucoside Loganin, about 3 per cent fatty matter, caffeotannic acid and a trace of copper. The
pulp of the fruit contains about 5 per cent of loganin together with the alkaloid strychnicine.
Availability
The Strychnine tree (Strychnos nux-vomica L.) also known as Nux vomica, Poison Nut, Semen strychnos
and Quaker Buttons, is a deciduous tree native to India, southeast Asia, a member of family Loganiaceae.
Medicinal Application
The propertiesof Nux Vomica are substantially those of the alkaloid Strychnine. The powdered seeds are
employed in atonic dyspepsia. The tincture of Nux Vomica is often used in mixtures - for its stimulant action on the
gastro-intestinal tract. In the mouth it acts as a bitter, increasing appetite; it stimulates peristalsis, in chronic
constipation due to atony of the bowel it is often combined with cascara and other laxatives with good effects.
Strychnine, the chief alkaloid constituent of the seeds, also acts as a bitter, increasing the flow of gastric juice; it is
rapidly absorbed as it reaches the intestines, after which it exerts its characteristic effects upon the central nervous
system, the movements of respiration are deepened and quickened and the heart slowed through excitation of the
vagal centre. The senses of smell, touch, hearing and vision are rendered more acute, it improves the pulse and
raises blood pressure and is of great value as a tonic to the circulatory system in cardiac failure. Strychnine is
excreted very slowly and its action is cumulative in any but small doses; it is much used as a gastric tonic in
dyspepsia. The most direct symptom caused by strychnine is violent convulsions due to a simultaneous stimulation
of the motor or sensory ganglia of the spinal cord; during the convulsion there is great rise in blood pressure; in
some types of chronic lead poisoning it is of great value. In cases of surgical shock and cardiac failure large doses
are given up to 1/10 grain by hypodermic injection; also used as an antidote in poisoning by chloral or chloroform.
Brucine closely resembles strychnine in its action, but is slightly less poisonous; it paralyses the peripheral motor
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