With the current high level of interest in patches to deliver drugs across the skin, the concept of external applications for delivery of medicinal substances is becoming widely accepted. This study evaluated the potential for transdermal absorption of castor oil, a treatment modality recommended by Edgar Cayce. Specific epoxydicarboxylic acids are known to be excreted via the urine when castor...

Castor oil is one of the oldest drugs. When given orally, it has a laxative effect and induces labor in pregnant females. The effects of castor oil are mediated by ricinoleic acid, a hydroxylated fatty acid released from castor oil by intestinal lipases. Despite the wide-spread use of castor oil in conventional and folk medicine, the molecular mechanism by which ricinoleic acid acts remains unk...

Castor oil is the source of numerous products and is the only commercial source of the fatty acid ricinoleate, 12-hydroxy-oleate. Hydrogenated castor oil is similarly useful as the source of 12-hydroxy-stearic acid, best known as a component of lithium grease. Monoand diacylglycerols are derived from castor oil and are useful in development of lubricants and emulsifiers for cosmetics, pharmaceu...

Due to the potential for intentional contamination of food with crude preparations containing ricin, a real-time PCR method was developed for the detection of castor plant material in ground beef. One primer pair was identified and confirmed to be castor-specific and efficient for amplification of ricin in DNA extracts from castor or beef matrices. Of three different DNA extraction protocols co...