ABSTRACT
Semen Ziziphi spinosae ( SZS) , as a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine in clinic for insomnia therapy, is rich in pharmacological active ingredients such as saponins, flavonoids, alkaloids, oil and the other chemical compounds. The recent stud-ies indicated that some active ingredients in SZS exhibited a variety of activities including sedative hypnotics, antianxiety and anti-de-pression by regulating particular neurotransmitters such as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA), norepi-nephrine, dopamine and glutamate. In accordance with the previous studies on pharmacological activities of SZS, this paper summa-rized and reviewed the applications of SZS in the treatment of central nervous system diseases, myocardial diseases and hepatic disea-ses, which might provide solid evidence for the application development of SZS.