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Assyria
Published in Michael J. O’Dowd, The History of Medications for Women, 2020
The seed or plant extract of the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) was mixed with beer and applied directly to the uterus to aid contractions. Castor oil, a mild but speedy aperient became part of the ‘OBE’ ritual (oil, bath and enema), a much vaunted technique to hasten early labor and used world-wide in maternity care until the 1960s. The active principle of castor oil is ricinoleic acid. Direct application of oil to the abdomen can cause uterine activity. The technique is still used to this day when we ‘rub-up’ the uterus to make it contract.
Chemistry of Essential Oils
Published in K. Hüsnü Can Başer, Gerhard Buchbauer, Handbook of Essential Oils, 2020
Figure 6.29 shows some of the plant-derived feedstocks used in the synthesis of lipids and polyketides (Sell, 2006). Rapeseed oil provides erucic acid (173) that can be ozonolyzed to give brassylic acid (174) and heptanal (175), both useful building blocks. The latter can also be obtained, together with undecylenic acid (176), by pyrolysis of ricinoleic acid (177) that is available from castor oil. Treatment of undecylenic acid (176) with acid leads to movement of the double bond along the chain and eventual cyclization to give γ-undecalactone (178), which has been found in narcissus oils. Aldol condensation of heptanal (175) with cyclopentanone, followed by Baeyer–Villiger oxidation, gives δ-dodecalactone (179), identified in the headspace of tuberose. Such aldol reactions, followed by appropriate further conversions, are important in the commercial production of analogues of methyl jasmonate (26) and jasmone (27).
Beneficial Lactic Acid Bacteria
Published in K. Balamurugan, U. Prithika, Pocket Guide to Bacterial Infections, 2019
Lipid metabolism is the enzymatic break down of lipids into fatty acids and glycerol by lipases with either intracellular or extracellular localization in LAB strains. The latter are able to perform unique fatty acid transformation reactions, including isomerization, hydration, dehydration, and saturation (Hayek and Ibrahim 2013). Such products of lipid metabolism as conjugated fatty acids have beneficial effects on health, making them a target of intensive study. LAB were found to successfully produce conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) through two consecutive reactions: hydration of linoleic acid to 10-hydroxy-12-octadecenoic acid and dehydrating isomerization of the hydroxy fatty acid to CLA. Ricinoleic acid also can be transformed into CLA. On the other hand, linoleic acid can be used in production of conjugated trienoic acid through alkali-isomerization (Ogawa et al. 2005). Bifidobacterium species show ability to conduct isomerization of linoleic acid to CLA (Raimondi et al. 2016).
Antidiarrheal activity of methanol extract of Sophora tonkinensis in mice and spasmolytic effect on smooth muscle contraction of isolated jejunum in rabbits
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2019
Yangyou Li, Jing Li, Xin Liu, Jianwu Zhang, Xue Mei, Rudan Zheng, Wei Chen, Qian Zheng, Shangjie Zhong
Castor oil is a colorless or very pale yellow liquid with a unique flavor obtained from the seeds of castor oil plants. As a plant oil, castor oil has several advantages for pharmacological use, including antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, low toxicity, low cost and easy availability (Yeganeh and Hojati-Talemi 2007; Valera et al. 2012; Holm et al. 2013; Salles et al. 2015). Ricinoleic acid is an active hydrolytic metabolite of castor oil which can induce diarrhea. It not only creates extensive contractions in the transverse and distal colon by inducing changes in electrolyte and water transport (Aleem and Janbaz 2018), but also produces irritant and inflammatory effects on intestinal mucosa, resulting in the release of several mediators including prostaglandins, nitric oxide, platelet activating factor cAMP and tachykinin (Guo et al. 2014a). Therefore, the castor oil model incorporates both motility and secretory diarrhea (Rouf et al. 2003).
Genomic identification of microbial species adhering to maxillofacial prostheses and susceptibility to different hygiene protocols
Published in Biofouling, 2018
Juliana Barchelli Pinheiro, Marina Peris Vomero, Cássio do Nascimento, Evandro Watanabe, Helena de Freitas Oliveira Paranhos, Neide Pena Coto, Reinaldo Brito Dias, Viviane Cássia de Oliveira, Cláudia Helena Silva-Lovato
It was expected that the solution of R. communis would show effective antimicrobial activity, as Leite et al. (2014) found that this solution showed a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.0781% for the same microorganisms evaluated. Furthermore, de Segundo et al. (2014) reported the efficacy of this solution against microorganisms from the biofilm formed on denture relined with a silicone-based denture liner. The process of biofilm formation ensures greater protection for microorganisms due to the presence of a glucoside matrix and polysaccharides that may prevent the action of R. communis solution. Future studies could combine brushing for disruption of the biofilm with immersion in R. communis. Moreover, the exact mechanism by which the ester of ricinoleic acid exerts its antimicrobial activity remains unclear, and further studies on this matter are needed.
Near-fatal poisoning after ricin injection
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2021
Fábio Bucaretchi, Carla F. Borrasca-Fernandes, Camila C. Prado, Rafael Lanaro, José Luiz Costa, Otávio M. Petroni, Tiago Giraldi, Maria Heloísa S. L. Blotta, Amauri S. Justo-Junior, Natália L. Sousa, Francisco J. L. Aragão, Eduardo M. De Capitani, Stephen Hyslop
The castor bean plant (Ricinus communis L., Euphorbiaceae) is widespread throughout temperate, subtropical and tropical regions, where it grows as an invasive endemic plant or is commercially cultivated [1–5]. The high oil content of castor seeds (46–55%), which is rich in ricinoleic acid, has led to the widespread use of this oil in numerous industrial, medical and cosmetic products, as well as the production of biofuels such as biodiesel. In addition to its oil, R. communis contains several toxins, including the highly toxic lectin ricin, also known as Ricinus communis agglutinin 60 (RCA60), a type-II ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) [1–5].