Gerard Lee Lo See, Perez, Shemei, Tiongson, Diva, Florencio Villester Arce, Yolanda Chua Deliman
Herbal treatments are the most popular form of traditional medicine and it is very rampant in the Philippines since most of the Filipinos prefer to be treated the old natural way. Jatropha curcas is a plant that produces high oil content seeds used as biodiesel which is not edible because it contains toxic Phorbol ester. The leaves contain apigenin, vitexin, isovitexin which along with other factors enable them to be used against malaria, rheumatic and muscular pains. When drunk as a tea it helps with the reduction of fevers and also helps jaundice and gonorrhea. A lot of concrete evidences support the therapeutic activity of the plant. However, only little information can be provided regarding the possible toxicity of the plant. So the researchers conducted acute and chronic toxicity testing of Jatropha curcas decoction and ethanol leaf extract using rats as the test animals, grouped and administered with 200mg/kg, 500mg/kg and 1000mg/kg dose assessed thru organ weighing and behavioral changes. Results showed that extracts were not acutely toxic with 0% mortality but lethal to the rats when taken for longer period of time marked by behavioral changes that signifies chronic toxicity such as weight loss, anorexia, reluctance to move and restlessness, there was a change in organ weight in an average of more than 10% for all the organs weighed when compared to the organs of the untreated animals and mortality. Jatropha curcas is relatively safe when administered orally for acute use but not safe when used chronically. © 2016, International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemical Research. All rights reserved.
Department of Pharmacy, School of Health Care Professions, University of San Carlos, Nasipit Talamban, Cebu City, 6000, Philippines
