Castor oil liquid
Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing the seeds of the castor oil plant (<em>Ricinus communis</em> L.) mainly cultivated in India, South America, Africa, and China.
Official documents, adverse reaction reporting, and safety monitoring
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Official medicine documents
Safety monitoring data
Yellow Card reports
The MHRA Yellow Card scheme collects reports of suspected side effects from healthcare professionals and patients. View the Drug Analysis Profile (iDAP) for real-world adverse reaction data.
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Submit a Yellow Card report to the MHRA
Data from the MHRA Yellow Card scheme. A reported reaction does not necessarily mean the medicine caused it. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
EudraVigilance
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) collects suspected adverse reaction reports from across the EU/EEA through the EudraVigilance system. Search for safety data on this medicine.
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EudraVigilance data is published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). A suspected adverse reaction is not necessarily caused by the medicine.
5 branded products available
WHO defined daily dose (DDD)
20 gram
Not a recommended dose. The DDD is the assumed average maintenance dose per day for a drug used for its main indication in adults. It is a statistical measure used for research and comparison purposes only.
Source: WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, distributed via the NHS dm+d supplementary BNF/ATC mapping files (NHSBSA). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Therapeutically similar medicines
Similarity is based on WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification and on a factual NHS dm+d therapeutic-grouping code prefix. Source data: NHS dm+d via TRUD (OGL v3.0), WHO ATC/DDD Index.
NHS prescribing volume and spending trends
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
NICE clinical guidance(1)
Source: National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Check stock at pharmacies and supply information
Pharmacy stock checkers
Search for this medicine at major UK pharmacy chains. These links open the retailer's own website — results depend on their current online catalogue.
Supply & safety information
Official UK regulator monitoring and safety alerts
Pharmacy links redirect to the retailer's own search and do not represent real-time stock levels. Shortage and safety information sourced from MHRA drug safety updates (gov.uk, Crown Copyright under OGL v3.0).
Codes for healthcare professionals and prescribing systems
These codes are used by healthcare IT systems and prescribers to identify this medicine.
NHS UK identifiers
Browse tools
SNOMED CT and dm+d codes from NHS TRUD (Technology Reference data Update Distribution), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. BNF code shown is the factual mapping value distributed by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) in the dm+d supplementary file under OGL v3.0; it is not affiliated with, nor licensed from, the publishers of the British National Formulary. ATC codes from the WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology (whocc.no).
Active and completed clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data accessed via ClinicalTrials.gov API v2. Trial information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Academic studies and reviews for this medicine's active substance
Showing the 50 most relevant studies.
Reviews & meta-analyses: 9 · Randomised trials: 1 · 1974–2020
Showing the 50 most relevant studies, sorted by most relevant.
Vinay R. Patel, Gerard G. Dumancas, Lakshmi C. Kasi Viswanath, et al.
Lipid Insights, 2016
Egid B. Mubofu
Sustainable Chemical Processes, 2016
Akwasi Yeboah, Sheng Ying, Jiannong Lu, et al.
Food Science and Technology, 2020
Antonio Scarpa, Antonio Guerci
Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 1982
- Ricinus communis
- Phytotherapy
- Plants, Toxic
Carlos S. Osorio‐González, Natali Gómez-Falcon, Fabiola Sandoval-Salas, et al.
Energies, 2020
A.K. Azad, M.G. Rasul, M.M.K. Khan, et al.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2016
Shuming Guo, Changhe Li, Yanbin Zhang, et al.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2016
S.T. Keera, Samire Sabagh, Afaf R. Taman
Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, 2018
G. Baskar, I. Aberna Ebenezer Selvakumari, R. Aiswarya
Bioresource Technology, 2017
- Zinc Oxide
- Biofuels
- Castor Oil
Chaoqun Zhang, Haiyan Liang, Dunsheng Liang, et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020
Sources: aggregated from Europe PMC (EMBL-EBI), OpenAlex, Crossref, PubMed and other open scholarly databases. Retracted articles are excluded. Study information is provided for research purposes and does not constitute medical advice.
Pharmacology and chemical data from DrugBank
Key facts
Drug status
Approved
Major interactions
None known
Half-life
Not available
Mechanism
Castor oil is a mix of triglycerides consisting of mainly ricinolein, linoleic a…
Food interactions
None known
Human targets
2 targets
Data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Pharmacokinetics at a glance
Absorption
[A33043]…
Half-life
Protein binding
Volume of distribution
Metabolism
Elimination
11.4%
Clearance
Pharmacokinetic data: DrugBank · CC BY-NC 4.0
Known interactions with other medications. Always consult a healthcare professional.
Showing 50 of 402 interactions
How the body processes this drug — absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination
[A33043]
Findings from the rat study suggest that the absorption of castor oil is inversely related to the administered dose, but the absorption is virtually complete at small doses (4g) F70.
Proteins and enzymes this drug interacts with in the body
PMID:7883006 PMID:7981210 PMID:8117308 PMID:8135729 PMID:8307176
The activity of this receptor can couple to both the inhibition of adenylate cyclase mediated by G(i) proteins, and to an elevation of intracellular calcium .
PMID:7883006 PMID:7981210 PMID:8117308 PMID:8135729
Required for normal development of fever in response to pyrinogens, including IL1B, prostaglandin E2 and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Required for normal potentiation of platelet aggregation by prostaglandin E2, and thus plays a role in the regulation of blood coagulation. Required for increased HCO3(-) secretion in the duodenum in response to mucosal acidification, and thereby contributes to the protection of the mucosa against acid-induced ulceration.
Not required for normal kidney function, normal urine volume and osmolality (By similarity)
May play an important role in regulating renal hemodynamics, intestinal epithelial transport, adrenal aldosterone secretion, and uterine function
ATC A06AB05
Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
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Chemical identifiers
CAS, UNII, InChI Key and database cross-references
Linked compound data from DrugBank Open Data (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Castor oil
Additional database identifiers
Drugs Product Database (DPD)
7038
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:9595
GenAtlas
PTGER3
GeneCards
PTGER3
GenBank Gene Database
S69200
Guide to Pharmacology
342
UniProt Accession
PE2R3_HUMAN
HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC)
HGNC:9596
GenAtlas
PTGER4
GeneCards
PTGER4
GenBank Gene Database
BC113523
Guide to Pharmacology
343
UniProt Accession
PE2R4_HUMAN
DrugBank citations
If you use DrugBank data in your research, please cite the following publications:
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Structured knowledge from the free knowledge base
Wikipedia article
vegetable oil obtained by pressing the seeds of the Castor plant, Ricinus communis
Read on WikipediaMolecular structure

ATC classifications (Wikidata)
Linked open data from Wikidata (Q337492), a free and open knowledge base operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Data is available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. Molecular structure images from Wikimedia Commons.