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Sabroxy | A Cutting Edge Natural Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor

Dive deep into Sabroxy and learn all about what Oroxylin A is, how it boosts dopamine levels, and how you can benefit from adding Sabroxy to your daily routine.

The Tree Of Damocles

You are walking through a lush tropical landscape at midnight, the smell of exotic flowers and gently fermenting fallen fruits filling the air. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminates a mysterious looking tree above your head, which casts shadows of giant swords on the landscape around you. Your attention is immediately drawn to this tree, and subsequent flashes of lightning illuminate swarms of bats. Your pleasant midnight walk is now fraught with a sense of impending doom, much like Damocles suddenly unable to enjoy the spoils of life when he learns there is a large sword dangling above his head from a single strand of horse hair. You are standing under the Oroxylum indicum tree, also known as the midnight horror tree or better yet, the tree of Damocles! 

The Tree Of Damocles

You are walking through a lush tropical landscape at midnight, the smell of exotic flowers and gently fermenting fallen fruits filling the air. Suddenly, a flash of lightning illuminates a mysterious looking tree above your head, which casts shadows of giant swords on the landscape around you. Your attention is immediately drawn to this tree, and subsequent flashes of lightning illuminate swarms of bats. Your pleasant midnight walk is now fraught with a sense of impending doom, much like damocles suddenly unable to enjoy the spoils of life when he learns there is a large sword dangling above his head from a single strand of horse hair. You are standing under the Oroxylum indicum tree, also known as the midnight horror tree or better yet, the tree of damocles!

What is Ashwagandha?

Ashwagandha is a herb that belongs to the night shade family of plants. The nightshade family of plants is a very interesting one and includes a lot of vegetables that make up large parts of many diets. Notable nightshade members are potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers, goji berries and even tobacco! Another name for the nightshade family is Solanaceae. This is where Ashwagandha gets its Latin name from; Withania somnifera. Ashwagandha is a short perennial shrub, with a large root system that develops small deep orange fruits. The fruits resemble a small cherry and the leaves look frosty due to the many tiny hairs that are on them. This one of the reasons why Ashwagandha is also referred to as ‘winter cherry’. Traditionally, the Ashwagandha root is used, however new research has found high concentrations of key components in the leaves too. Various manufacturers have taken notice of this. One of the most notable being Natreon who produce a specialized extract of Ashwagandha called Sensoril. Sensoril is made from the leaves of Ashwagandha, giving it a unique chemical composition, which produces noticeable calming effects.


The Oroxylum indicum tree has a long list of amusing names, our favorites being the ‘midnight horror tree’ and the ‘tree of Damocles’. The first name refers to how creepy this tree can look in tropical lightning storms. The second name refers to the giant seed pods that are carried on high and thin branches. From a distance, these bean pods look like swords, and it looks like there is quite little holding it up! Apart from the amusing names though, Oroxylum indicum has a very rich history of use.

Figure 1. The Oroxylum indicum tree, with its sword-like bean pods dangling from thin branches.

Figure 1. The Oroxylum indicum tree, with its sword-like bean pods dangling from thin branches.

Apart from the amusing names though, Oroxylum indicum has a very rich history of use. Both as a traditional medicine and as a food source. As a food source, many parts of this tree are eaten. Most commonly though, the unopened flower pods are pickled, much like capers, and the bean pods are chopped up to make curries. The Oroxylum indicum tree appears to be native to India, and has a long history of use within Ayurveda. It is part of a very famous Ayurvedic formula called Dashmoola, in which the roots of Oroxylum indicum are used.

Figure 2. Chopped up Oroxylum indicum bean pods.

Figure 2. Chopped up Oroxylum indicum bean pods.

Both as a traditional medicine and as a food source. As a food source, many parts of this tree are eaten. Most commonly though, the unopened flower pods are pickled, much like capers, and the bean pods are chopped up to make curries. The Oroxylum indicum tree appears to be native to India, and has a long history of use within Ayurveda. It is part of a very famous Ayurvedic formula called Dashmoola, in which the roots of Oroxylum indicum are used.

Dashmoola is mostly employed for general aches and pains, and Oroxylum indicum in general seems to be used for similar purposes even as a standalone. Furthermore, it is traditionally used to enhance digestion, respiratory function, joint comfort and skin health. 

Instead of using the roots, we instead employ the bark. The bark is a rich source of some very interesting flavonoids, the one which we are most interested in being Oroxylin A. Oroxylin A was always a very elusive compound within nootropic communities, with research about this incredible molecule being shared far and wide. If you look at the pharmacological properties of Oroxlin A, it is easy to see why it garnered so much attention! However, it was always practically impossible to get a hold of this compound. That was until Sabinsa produced a cutting edge extract of Oroxylum indicum bark, yielding a whopping 10% Oroxylin A concentration. This finally gave all of us the chance to explore the unique properties of Oroxylin A, and let’s just say, we were not disappointed after trying it out!


The Elusive Oroxylin A

In the early days of natural nootropics, there were two that really stood out. Polygala tenuifolia and Oroxylin A. Both of these were reported to be significant dopamine reuptake inhibitors, while also helping to enhance neuroplasticity due to their nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) boosting effects. Polygala tenuifolia was a plant we were quickly able to get a hold off, and produce a high quality extract from. However, Oroxylin A was very elusive. At the time, synthetic Oroxylin A was unobtanium level expensive (if it was even possible to make at all), and a botanical source didn’t seem to exist.

After searching for a source of Oroxylin A for many years, we were absolutely over the moon when we were able to obtain this unique Oroxylum indicum bark extract standardized to 10% oroxylin A called Sabroxy! We immediately got to beta-testing it and from the first dose we were amazed at its potency. All of those years of chasing down this compound proved to be entirely worth it! When we first got in a sample of Sabroxy we really didn’t know what to expect, but an hour after taking the first 100 mg dose, we immediately realized we were working with a genuine and effective dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Up until this point, we had not come across a natural plant extract which had such a pronounced yet clean dopaminergic effect.

We had to wait a while to see if the neuroplasticity enhancing effects were real though, but after a few weeks, we realized these effects were genuine too. The memory enhancing effects of Sabroxy were significant, but only after a few weeks. This mirrored our experience with other botanicals and fungi which produce their nootropic effects via neuroplasticity modulation, such as Bacopa monnieri and Lion’s mane.


A Natural Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor

Figure 3. Dopamine synapse, with the dopamine transporter indicated under the abbreviation ‘DAT’.

The one aspect of Oroxylin A that everyone was most excited about, was the fact that it functions as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. If you are unfamiliar with the basics of neurotransmission, here is a quick overview of why taking a dopamine reuptake inhibitor is so interesting.

When nerve impulses travel down a dopaminergic neuron, they can trigger dopamine release in the synapse. This dopamine then floats around in the synaptic cleft, and can bind to receptors on the postsynaptic neuron (pictured on the bottom, in figure 3.). Once these receptors have been activated by dopamine, the dopamine unbinds and floats back into the synaptic cleft. Once here, a few things can happen. The dopamine can be degraded by an enzyme called monoamine oxidase (MAO), or it can be absorbed back into the presynaptic neuron where it came from by DAT.

Once the dopamine has been removed from the synaptic cleft by either of these processes, it can no longer act on the receptors of the postsynaptic neurons. In this situation, we would have to wait for another nerve impulse to trigger fresh dopamine release back into the synaptic cleft. However, if we block DAT with oroxylin A, then the dopamine can stay floating around in the synaptic cleft for a little while longer. This then means that it can bind to the postsynaptic dopamine receptor again, continuing to then generate dopaminergic signals.

If this is still a little bit too high level, we can break it down very simply. Imagine the above scenario as a bathtub. In this scenario, the bathtub is the synaptic cleft, your hand is the nerve impulse, the water coming out of the tap is dopamine, the drain is DAT and Oroxylin A is the drain stopper. So, when your hand (the nerve impulse) opens the tap, water (dopamine) immediately begins to flow out, but only a very small pool of water (dopamine) will form in the bathtub (synaptic cleft) because it is immediately being taken away into the drainage system by the open drain (DAT). If you want some water to build up in the bathtub, you can put the stopper (oroxylin A) into the drain and now the water (dopamine) is not immediately being taken away by the drain (DAT). This means that there is now much more water (dopamine) in the bathtub (synaptic cleft) than there was when the drain (DAT) was still fully open.

Extra dopaminergic signaling is important to us, because it is a major mediator of focus, motivation, memory, mood, reward and even pain! In the case of Sabroxy, we are mostly interested in its ability to enhance executive function. This translates to significantly higher levels of focus, while also being able to boost motivation. This can really come in handy either when your general level of focus is not fantastic or when you are endlessly procrastinating! No wonder elevating dopamine levels is such a popular choice amongst students who need long periods of intense focus prior to their exams!


Sabroxy: A Stackers Dream

Another very nice aspect of sabroxy, is that it fits into lots of different stacks. For example, if you’ve got a stack nicely dialed in but just need a little bit more of a dopaminergic push, then sabroxy fits in really well. Furthermore, dopamine is important for memory, so it will work very nicely in memory stacks, and surprisingly, dopamine plays a major role in pain processing so it will work well in pain stacks too. In our experience, sabroxy plays quite nicely with most botanicals and compounds, and thus, stacking with it is quite easy. Nevertheless, it can help to have a bit of inspiration, so here are a few of our favorite stacking ideas.

Motivation & Confidence Stack*

Sabroxy + Tribulus terrestris

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By itself, tribulus terrestris has quite a punchy effect, providing stimulation and confidence with ease. However, it can use a bit of tweaking on the motivation and focus side. Stacking Sabroxy with Tribulus terrestris pulls this off very nicely, boosting up the motivation aspect while even smoothing out some of the rough edges of Tribulus terrestris. If you need that unique combination of confidence, drive and focus, then certainly check this stack out!

Mood Stack*

Sabroxy + Saffron

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Sabroxy has a fantastic effect on mood too via its dopaminergic effects and we find that pairing this increase in dopamine with a bit of elevated serotonin leads to a very nice warm and rounded mood boost. In this scenario, we like to use saffron, which gently elevates serotonin levels while also blocking NMDA channels and activating sigma-1 receptors. When stacked with the dopamine reuptake inhibitor effects of sabroxy, this produces a very punchy mood boosting effect!

Cognition & Creative Focus Stack*

Sabroxy + Cognance

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We find that the 5-HT2A effects of cognance stack particularly well with dopaminergics. With this in mind, one of our favorite cognance stacks is with sabroxy. This stack produces a high level of introspective focus, without producing much if any tunnel vision. Instead, the focus lends itself to creative thought processes, making this stack ideal for creative projects that need a high degree of focus.

Intense Energy & Focus Stack*

Sabroxy + Vignatex

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Be warned, this stack is not for the faint of heart! Sabroxy is already quite stimulating, add this on top of the stimulating effects of vignatex, and the effects are very pronounced. This stack will honestly be too much for most, however, if you really want to feel some dopaminergic effects, then this stack is great! Vignatex enhances dopamine levels by blocking the monoamine oxidase B enzyme (MAO-B), which normally breaks down dopamine. Thus, by blocking MAO-B, dopamine levels can stay elevated in the synaptic cleft for longer. Stack this on top of the dopamine reuptake inhibitor effects of sabroxy, and dopamine levels go up very significantly! This stack will produce intense levels of focus and energy due to this two-pronged approach to enhancing dopamine levels.

Memory & Focus Stack*

Sabroxy + OmegaTAU

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Since the oroxylin A contained in Sabroxy boosts BDNF and NGF, it can also have a very positive impact on memory. This is especially the case when we consider that dopamine also plays a major role in memory consolidation. Stacking sabroxy with one of our favorite memory promoting stacks, which is also said to sensitize the dopaminergic system, OmegaTAU, then makes perfect sense. The two together produce a wonderful memory and focusing enhancing effect!

Pain & Mood Stack*

Sabroxy + Supercritical Myrrh

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Through its dopaminergic effects, sabroxy can help dampen dopamine pain signals in the brain. This effects profile stacks very nicely with the pain modulating effects of myrrh. Together they produce a robust pain management effect, with the cherry on top being a significant boost in mood and energy. This can really come in handy when you are dealing with aches and pains!


"Research has shown that magnesium levels are decreasing in most foods... With the magnesium content decreasing in crops and the increase in the consumption of processed foods, magnesium deficiencies in the population are becoming more prevalent."

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.


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