Azaraqi (Strychnos nux-vomica L.) herb for nervous and musclos-keletol system

Nature has always been a giver, bearing rich heritage of natural products which arebeing utilized by mankind since their existence. Azaraqi (Strychnos nux-vomicaL.) is a potential herb used for the treatment of various neuronal illness, muscloskeletol and joint disorders. This comes under category IV of drugs as per Unani literature which needs to be detoxified prior to clinical use.The healing properties of Azaraqi (Strychnos nux-vomicaL.) are substantially those of the alkaloids strychnine and brucine, which are considered toxic.The perception of lesser side effects of herbal formulation among the people especially in developing countries raised the market of treatment by natural products. However, there is need to put forward the scientific evidence of these formulation regarding toxicity as well as efficacy as then only evidence based medicine would only be able to make position in globalized world as an alternative of conventional treatment available. This review article will discuss the potential pharmacological actions; toxicity developed due to Azaraqiresulted out in different preclinical and clinical studies. The authors will try to make a suggestion for future based on finding of these studies.