In Jamaican traditional medicine, the dried root (1-4 g) of the sarsaparilla (Smilax ornata) is made into a tea to relieve pain related to arthritis. To investigate this claim extracts of the root were examined using the rat tail-flick model.
Forty-two Sprague-Dawley rats were first individually placed on the analgesimeter, heat applied to the tail and the time taken for animal to flick tail was recorded as a measure of sensitivity to pain. Rats were then divided into groups containing 6 rats.