Occular and dermal toxicity of Jatropha curcas phorbol esters

•Biodiesel feedstock Jatropha curcas seed oil contains toxic phorbol esters (PEs).•PEs was tested on reconstituted human epidermis and human corneal epithelium.•Severe cellular alterations were observed both in epidermis and epithelium.•The toxicity reflected with increase in inflammatory response (IL-1α and PGE2).•All PEs were toxic and thus, safe handling of Jatropha based product is needed.

Jatropha curcas seeds are a promising feedstock for biodiesel production. However, Jatropha seed oil and other plant parts are toxic due to the presence of phorbol esters (PEs). The ever-increasing cultivation of toxic genotype of J. curcas runs the risk of increased human exposure to Jatropha products. In the present study, effects of J. curcas oil (from both toxic and nontoxic genotypes), purified PEs-rich extract and purified PEs (factors C1, C2, C3mixture, (C4+C5)) on reconstituted human epithelium (RHE) and human corneal epithelium (HCE) were evaluated in vitro. The PEs were purified from toxic Jatropha oil. In both RHE and HCE, the topical application of PEs containing samples produced severe cellular alterations such as marked oedema, presence of less viable cell layers, necrosis and/or partial tissue disintegration in epithelium and increased inflammatory response (interleukin-1α and prostaglandin E2). When compared to toxic oil, histological alterations and inflammatory response were less evident (P<0.05) in nontoxic oil indicating the severity of toxicity was due to PEs. Conclusively, topical applications of Jatropha PEs are toxic towards RHE and HCE models, which represents dermal and occular toxicity respectively. Data obtained from this study would aid in the development of safety procedures for Jatropha biodiesel industries. It is advised to use protective gloves and glasses when handling PEs containing Jatropha products.