• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.75-79
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• 1978

There has been many investigations on phytoagglutinin and especially, Moon et al reported a number of research works on phytoagglutinins prepared from the Korean plants. The present report describes results of experiment on the biological effect of 14 Korean phytoagglutinins to microorganism for the first time. 1) Kaolin rubi and Ricinus communis L. among 14 different species of Korean phytoagglutinins had agglutinating activities to microoganisms. 2) Kaolin rubi agglutinated E. coli, Staph. aureus, Ps. aeruginosa, Prot. vulgaris, B. subtilis, Sal. typhi, Sh. dysenteriae, C. albicans and Sa. cerevisiae but Ricinus communis L. showed only agglutination of Sa. cerevisiae. 3) Agglutinating titers of Kaolin rubi to various microorganisms were 500-1,000 but titer of Ricinus communis L. was only 50. 4) Ricinus communis L. showed bactericidal action to Sa. cerevisiae but Kaolin rubi had no such effect.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.888-894
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• 2006

Objectives : For the purpose of developing new anti-HIV agents from natural sources, the extracts of Ricinus communis were tested for their inhibitory effects on essential enzymes reverse transcriptase (RT), protease and alpha-glucosidase. Inhibition activity of major compounds of Ricinus communis were predicted from quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) in silico. Methods and Results : In the anti-HIV-1 RT using enzyme-linked oligonucleotide sorbent assay (ELOSA) method, water and methanol extracts (100ug/ml) of Ricinus communis showed strong activity of 94.2% and 82.7%, respectively. In the HIV-1 protease and alpha-glucosidase inhibition assay, neither water nor methanol extracts of Ricinus communis inhibited the activity of the enzyme to cleave any substrates as oligopeptides and oligosaccharides. Conclusions : We found that for these samples it is possible that the inhibition of the RT in vitro is due to the secondary metabolites of Ricinus communis such as ricinine and quercetin. It would beof great interest to identify the compounds which are responsible for this inhibition, since all therapeutically useful agents up to date are RT inhibitors.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.193-197
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• 1995

Antibody-toxin conjugates, termed immunotoxins, are currently being evaluated as potential new anticancer agents and one of the most extensively studied toxins for construction of immunotoxin is ricin which exists in the seeds of castor bean, Ricinus communis. Another toxic lectin from castor bean is RCA (Ricinus communis agglutinin). Both toxins are very homologous. We reported the puriffcation procedure and biological properties of ricin from the Korean castor bean in another place and here we report those of RCA. The purified RCA shows three bands on denatured SDS PAGE while ricin shows two bands. On cultured $K_{562}$ cells ricin and RCA both inhibit the multiplication of cells extensively. $30{\mu}g/ml$ of ricin shows 73% of inhibition rate at day 4 compared to 68% in same condition of RCA. The inhibition of multiplication of cells are directly proportional to the concentration of toxins and the incubation period. In every case ricin was more toxic than RCA. The $LD_{50}$ dose of ricin on ICR mice was 60 ng at day 3 but that of RCA was $10{\mu}g$.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.666-670
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• 2007

Efficacy of antioxidative activity and nitrite scavenging ability of methanol extract from Ricinus communis. was investigated. Electron-donating ability of extract at RC$_{50}$ was 114.02 ${\mu}g$/mL. After addition of 0.46 mg/mL extract, autoxidation of pyrogallol decreased to 32.99% by superoxide dismutase-like activity. In antioxidative activity of extract against linoleic acid during incubation times of 24, 48, 96 hours at 40$^{\circ}C$, lipid peroxidation values significantly decreased by 85.50%, 87.77%, 90.95% with addition of 0.2 mg/mL, respectively. Total phenolic content was determined as gallic acid equivalents (GAE) and values revealed 83.98 ${\pm}$ 5.66 GAE ${\mu}g$/mg of extract. Nitrite scavenging ability showed the most remarkable effect at pH 1.2, decreasing to 47.24% by addition of 0.2 mg/mL. These results suggest that methanol extract from Ricinus communis. can be used as bioactive and functional material.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.524-528
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• 2017

Ricinus communis, belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae, has been known as medicinal plants for treatment of inflammation, tumors, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective and laxative. Compared to many pharmacological studies, the effect of R. communis extract on regulating adipogenesis as therapeutic drug for treating obesity has not been reported. R. communis extract (RCE) was investigated to determine its effects on the adipogenesis by monitoring the status of $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ signaling and factors involving the differentiation of adipocytes. The differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells monitored by Oil Red O staining was inhibited in concentration dependent manner by RCE. The luciferase activity of HEK 293-TOP cells containing pTOPFlash with Tcf4 response element-luciferase gene was increased approximately 2-folds by the treatment of RCE at concentrations of $100{\mu}g/mL$ compared to the control. Activation of the $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ pathway by RCE was further confirmed by immunocytochemical analysis which shows an increment of nuclear localization of ${\beta}-catenin$. In addition, safety of RCE was verified through performing neural stem cell morphology assay. Among the identified flavonoids in RCE, isoquercitrin was the most abundant. Therefore, these results indicate that the adipocyte differentiation was significantly reduced by isoquercitrin in R. communis. In this study, RCE suppresses the adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 cells via the activation of $Wnt/{\beta}-catenin$ signaling.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.206-208
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• 1979

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2016

The quantitative analytical method for the bioactive substance, 3-cyano-4-methoxy-N-methyl-2-pyridone (ricinine) and an index compound, ricinoleic acid in castor plant (Ricinus communis) extract or oil was developed. For the determination of a pyridone alkaloid compound, ricinine, successive cartridge cleanup method combined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography was set up with $ENVI-Carb^{TM}$ (0.5 g) and $C_{18}$ SPE cartridges. Accuracy and precision were evaluated through fortification studies of one biopesticide (PE) at 10 and $100mg\;kg^{-1}$. Mean recoveries of ricinine were 98.7 and 96.0 % associated with less than 10 % RSD, respectively. For the determination of ricinoleic acid in castor extract and oil, saponification and methylation were optimized using gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry. Recovery was more than 84.8 % associated with 6.2 % RSD after derivatization procedure. Both methodologies developed were applied to analyze real samples including three castor oil products and six commercially available biopesticides containing R. communis, collected at Korean market. The contents of ricinine and ricinoleic acid in most commercial biopesticides were less than the oil or extract contents indicated by label.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 1989

Developmental anatomy was conducted in order to elucidate the differentiating pattern of fascicular cambial initials in the hypocotyl of Ricinus communis. The homogeneous procambium with relatively short cells in early stage is transformed into a heterogeneous structure with long and short cells in late stage in tangential view. Fusiform and ray initials are gradually originated from the long and short cells of the procambium in hypocotyl in later stage respectively. Fusiform initials are not shorter than procambial cells because of the successive elongation of vascular meristematic cells. Therefore, the distinction between procambium and fascicular cambium is not made from comparison with their cell length. The characteristics of the fascicular cambium are gradully acquired at or just after completion of hypocotyl elongation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2001

The pathological aspects of purified ricin from the seeds of the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis, were examined, using light and transmission electron microscopy. ICR mice were exposed to ricin by peritoneal injection with 100 ng/1 $m\ell$ PBS(pH 7.0) mouse and histological observations on the liver, spleen, thymus, lung and heart were carried out at intervals up to 48 h after exposures. All the organs examined were damaged by ricin. Among the organs, the spleen and thymus; immune organs were the most sensitive to ricin, whereas the effect delayed in the liver, lung and heart. Furthermore, the immune cells in each organ were the most sensitive to ricin. Accordingly, the effect of ricin on the organs seems to be affected by the immune cells existed in each organ, In each organ, the immune cells showed apoptotic changes, while the capillary endothelial and parenchymal cells showed necrotic changes.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.79-90
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• 2023

Natural goods, especially therapeutic plants, are abundant in the World. Because they have the ability to provide all humanity with countless advantages as a source of medicines, medicinal plants are presently receiving more attention than ever. These plants' therapeutic efficacy is based on bioactive phytochemical components that have clear physiological effects on the human body. The drying process is crucial for the preparation of plant materials prior to extraction since freshly harvested plant materials include active enzymes that create active components, intermediates, and metabolic processes. Many of the phytoconstituents may be extracted using the semi-polar solvent methanol. The goal of the current work is to use the GC-MS gas chromatography- mass spectrometry technology to identify the phytochemicals and review their biological activity. In methanol leaf extract, 5 phytocompounds were found in Ricinus communis, 5 phytocompounds in Pongamia pinnata, 12 phytocompounds in Datura metal, 7 phytocompounds in Azadirachta indica, 11 phytocompounds in Acalypha indica.