When Jatropha costaricensis Webster & Poveda was described from Guanacaste, Costa Rica, some years ago (Webster & Poveda, 1978), it was predicted that other xeric relict taxa might be discovered elsewhere in Central America. Recent botanical exploration in Nicaragua has disclosed not only a number of new populations of Jatropha podagrica Hook. in rocky areas in Dept. Esteli, but also on basalti...

Jatropha curcas L. posee un potencial, que radica en su alto contenido de aceite para la producción biodiésel. Para extraer el J. es necesario descortezar las semillas y como este coproducto representa 2.0% del peso total, resulta importante buscar opciones utilización. El paso previo a cualquier acción sentido conocer sus valores bromatológicos presencia compuestos fenólicos totales. Durante p...

Jatropha curcas leaves extract was tested as a green corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in aqueous hydrochloric acid solution using gravimetric and thermometric techniques. The results reveal that the inhibition efficiency vary with concentration of the leaf extract and the time of immersion. Maximum inhibition efficiency was found to be 95.92% in 2M HCl with 0.5 g/l concentration of the extrac...

Studies on organic seed fortification with Jatropha curcas and Pongamia pinnata using ‘Panchagavya ’at one, two, three, four and five per cent concentrations with the three different soaking durations revealed that Panchagavya at 2 and 5% with the soaking duration of 16 and 8 h were superior than the control and other concentrations in terms of germination and seedling vigour for Jatropha curca...

The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of the methanolic extract of the leaves of Jatropha curcas were investigated in mice and rats respectively. The phytochemical screening of the extract was also carried out. The analgesic effect was determined by acetic acid – induced writhing test in mice. While the antiinflammatory activity was determined by egg albumin – induced oedema of the rat pa...

Jatropha gossypiifolia L. (Euphorbiaceae) is widely used in popular medicine. However, further toxicological studies are necessary for its reliable use. The present study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic, genotoxic, and mutagenic effects of ethanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of J. gossypiifolia, using the test system Allium cepa. In addition, the phytochemical profile of the extracts was also o...

Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) plays an important role in the metabolism of hydrogen peroxide in higher plants. In the present study, a novel APX gene (JctAPX) was cloned from Jatropha curcas L. The deduced amino acid sequence was similar to that of APX of some other plant species. JctAPX has a chloroplast transit peptide and was localized to the chloroplasts by analysis with a JctAPX-green fluores...

In the present study, we applied nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as well as near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, to Jatropha curcas to fulfill two objectives: (1) to qualitatively examine the seeds stored at different conditions, and (2) to monitor the metabolism of J. curcas during its initial growth stage under stable-isotope-labeling condition (until 15 days after seeding). NIR spectra could ...

We assessed the polyphenolic contents and antioxidant potential of the aqueous, ethanol and methanol stem bark extracts of Jatropha curcas. The total phenol, flavonoids, flavonols and proanthocyanidin contents of the extracts were evaluated to determine their effect on the antioxidant property of this plant, using standard phytochemical methods. The antioxidant and free radical scavenging activ...