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...

Castor oil was first noted to have oxytocic properties by ancient Egyptians. Derived from the castor plant Ricinus communis, castor oil may possess properties that are useful are in post-term pregnancies This study was performed at Khatam-Alanbia, hospital in shoushtar city in 1381.In this clinical trail 80 pregnant women, who had indication for induction of labor at term were randomly assigned...

introduction growth analysis has been widely used in breeding programs to identify the important plant developmental phases and components related to higher yield under a particular set of environmental conditions. castor bean (ricinus communis l.) is an important commercial crop. castor oil based by products is used in manufacturing of several commercially important commodities like surfactant...

Sena-Graph syrup has recently been formulated by an Iranian pharmaceutical company for being used in bowel evacuation before radiography, colonoscopy and surgery. This study compares the efficacy, adverse effects and patient compliance of two bowel preparation regimens with castor oil and Sena-Graph syrup in of outpatients for Intravenous Urography (IVU). One hundred and fourteen consecutive ou...

Seed maturation or seed filling is a phase of development that plays a major role in the storage reserve composition of a seed. In many plant seeds photosynthesis plays a major role in this process, although oilseeds, such as castor (Ricinus communis), are capable of accumulating oil without the benefit of photophosphorylation to augment energy demands. To characterize seed filling in castor, a...

Background The castor bean plant, Ricinus communis, is known to have allergenic and toxic properties. Castor bean allergy has been described mainly as an occupational inhalation allergy in laboratory workers, in persons working in oil processing mills or in agricultural industry. So far, only one case of anaphylactic reaction due to castor bean sensitization confirmed by specific IgE has been d...

Ricin is a protein toxin found only in mature castor (Ricinus communis L., Euphorbiaceae) seed that enzymatically destroys the ribosomes of eukaryotes. The presence of ricin in the high protein meal of castor has historically reduced its value as an animal feed. Since ricin has the potential to be used as a chemical warfare and bioterrorism agent, the production and processing of castor has und...

This paper reports on the assessment of the quality and quantity of castor oil from castor seeds collected from different regions in Tanzania. The castor seeds from Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Iringa, Kagera and Morogoro regions in Tanzania were extracted by Soxhlet method using n-hexane and the oil yields were determined. The yields were 52.78%, 49.95%, 47.89%, 44.23%, 43.71% and 43.69% for...