Croton tiglium · PhytoNexus

01 Identity and provenance

Accepted binomial: Croton tiglium
Common names: Jamalgota
Family (APG IV): Euphorbiaceae
Part used: Seed
Verification tier: Tier 2 · Verified Clinical columns reviewed and a source is on record.
Reviewer note (2026 audit): Hong Kong Hospital Authority toxic plant database, Croton tiglium | Meyler’s Side Effects of Drugs, croton oil | VERIFIED 2026 (batch 4) - synthetic analogue, application, interactions, side effects and references populated from retrieved primary/regulatory sources. Interactions labelled CLINICAL vs THEORETICAL. Marketed-formulation column intentionally blank. | PREPARATION

02 Constituent chemistry

Chemical class	Marker compound	Synthetic analogue in use
Diterpene esters	Phorbol esters Seed	Bisacodyl, sodium picosulfate (FUNCTIONAL - drastic cathartic). Phorbol esters activate protein kinase C; there is no therapeutic equivalent.

The analogue column is what makes the interaction reasoning tractable: where a constituent has a marketed structural counterpart, the counterpart's interaction profile is the starting hypothesis for the plant.

Looking up structures and physicochemical properties from PubChem…

03 Stated application

Reported activity: Ayurvedic (Jayapala) and Thai/Chinese traditional purgative, used ONLY after detoxification (shodhana - purification in cow’s milk). Historically a last-resort cathartic in European pharmacy. Croton oil is still used as a dermatological peeling agent.
Reported adverse effects: EXTREMELY POTENT. Half a drop of croton oil can be toxic; about 20 drops may be lethal. Phorbol esters cause violent purgation, severe diarrhoea, dehydration and electrolyte loss; crotin is a protein-synthesis-inhibiting toxalbumin causing haemolysis and local necrosis. Skin contact: contact dermatitis and blistering; eye contact: keratoconjunctivitis. As a peeling agent at 2% or above it causes depigmentation and delayed healing. TUMOUR PROMOTER: phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate is the standard laboratory tumour promoter on mouse skin - it is a promoter rather than a complete carcinogen, but that distinction offers little reassurance for repeated topical use. PROCESSING PARTIALLY WORKS: Thai traditional detoxification reduced PMA from 1.59 to 1.26 mg/g and crotonic acid to undetectable, with reduced purgative effect - measurable, but not elimination.

04 Interaction matrix

Source column, verbatim: CLINICAL: additive with laxatives, diuretics and other potassium-wasting drugs; resulting hypokalaemia potentiates cardiac glycosides.
Normalised onto 3 canonical drug classes below.

Curated from the reviewed source

Drug class	Severity	Mechanism type	Provenance	Expected effect
Cardiac glycosides (digoxin, digitoxin) Cardiovascular	4Contraindicated	PD-additive + PK-transporter + assay interference	curated A	Nausea, xanthopsia, bradyarrhythmia, AV block, ventricular tachycardia an…	why ▾
Class mechanism. Cardenolide- and bufadienolide-bearing plants are themselves Na+/K+-ATPase inhibitors, so co-administration is pharmacological overdose. Several also inhibit intestinal P-glycoprotein, raising digoxin exposure, and cross-react with digoxin immunoassays so that serum levels become uninterpretable. Expected Nausea, xanthopsia, bradyarrhythmia, AV block, ventricular tachycardia and death; falsely reassuring or falsely high assay results. Management Treat as an absolute contraindication. If exposure has occurred, manage on ECG and clinical grounds, not on assay values, and consult toxicology about digoxin-specific Fab. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “cardiac glycosides” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Diuretics Renal	3Major	PD-additive + electrolyte-mediated	curated A	Hypokalaemia, hyponatraemia, dehydration, muscle weakness, cramps, arrhyt…	why ▾
Class mechanism. Aquaretic and saluretic botanicals add to renal potassium and sodium loss. Anthraquinone laxatives compound this through colonic potassium loss, and glycyrrhizin causes mineralocorticoid-like retention of sodium with kaliuresis. Expected Hypokalaemia, hyponatraemia, dehydration, muscle weakness, cramps, arrhythmia; potentiation of digoxin toxicity through low potassium. Management Check potassium, sodium and creatinine 1-2 weeks after starting. Avoid the combination entirely in patients also on digoxin. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “diuretics” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Laxatives and antidiarrhoeals Gastrointestinal	2Moderate	PD-additive	curated A	Cramping, diarrhoea, electrolyte loss, melanosis coli with chronic anthra…	why ▾
Class mechanism. Anthraquinone and mucilage botanicals add to stimulant and bulk laxative action; tannin-rich astringents oppose it. Expected Cramping, diarrhoea, electrolyte loss, melanosis coli with chronic anthraquinone use; or constipation and obstruction risk with astringents plus inadequate fluid. Management Limit stimulant laxative botanicals to under 2 weeks. Ensure adequate fluid intake with any bulk-forming product. Onset rapid Evidence A - human data with a cited source Matched on “laxatives” Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism

Predicted from constituent chemistry

These edges are not clinical findings. Each one is a rule inference: a constituent class in this plant is known to act on a target that the drug class also acts on. They are shown because a blank cell reads as “safe”, and for a Tier 1 entry a blank cell only means “not yet looked at”. Treat them as a literature-search agenda, not as a warning.

Drug class	Severity	Mechanism type	Provenance	Expected effect
Narrow-therapeutic-index CYP3A4 substrates Pharmacokinetic	4Contraindicated	PK-CYP3A4	predicted D	Toxic accumulation or subtherapeutic failure of the co-prescribed drug, s…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Volatile terpenes are lipophilic, cross membranes readily and induce or inhibit CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 depending on the constituent. Class mechanism. Furanocoumarins, bergamottin, piperine, glabridin and berberine inhibit CYP3A4; hyperforin, andrographolide and several diterpenes induce it through PXR. Because CYP3A4 handles roughly half of marketed drugs, the affected list is broad and the direction is product-specific. Expected Toxic accumulation or subtherapeutic failure of the co-prescribed drug, sometimes fatal for antiarrhythmics, immunosuppressants and oncology agents. Management Screen the full regimen for 3A4 substrates. Where the substrate has a narrow index, avoid rather than monitor. Onset unspecified Evidence D - in silico rule prediction only Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism
Topical antiseptics, keratolytics and irritants Dermatology	2Moderate	PD-additive local	predicted D	Contact dermatitis, chemical burn, photoirritation, unexpected systemic a…	why ▾
Chemistry of this pair. Volatile terpenes are lipophilic, cross membranes readily and induce or inhibit CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 depending on the constituent. Class mechanism. Essential-oil terpenes, capsaicinoids and phorbol-type diterpenes add to the barrier disruption caused by topical antiseptics, retinoids and keratolytics, and increase percutaneous absorption of anything applied with them. Expected Contact dermatitis, chemical burn, photoirritation, unexpected systemic absorption from broken skin. Management Patch test first. Never apply undiluted essential oils to broken or freshly shaved skin, or with occlusion. Onset rapid Evidence D - in silico rule prediction only Find evidence for this pair Map this mechanism

05 Hazard register

processing-dependent - shodhana measurably reduces but does not

06 Confusable material

No same-genus or shared-common-name entry in the corpus.

07 Mechanism map

Chemistry sorts to the left, pharmacology to the right. Dashed edges are predicted. Drag nodes, scroll to zoom, export at 3× for a figure.

species

chemical class

marker compound

drug class

expected effect

hazard

08 Open literature

Abstract-scoped query built from this binomial, its common names and its marker compounds, run live against Europe PMC, PubMed and OpenAlex, then ranked locally against an evidence hierarchy.

Checking openFDA spontaneous reports…

09 Isomechanistic neighbours

Species whose interaction profile overlaps this one, ranked by shared severity weight rather than by count — a shared contraindication counts for more than a shared minor signal. Practical use: these are the plants you should not stack with this one, because the mechanisms summate.

Species	Family	Shared classes	Jaccard
Senna alexandrina Senna	Fabaceae	4	0.31
Aconitum napellus Monkshood	Ranunculaceae	3	0.38
Aconitum ferox Vatsanabha	Ranunculaceae	3	0.38
Cassia fistula Amaltas	Fabaceae	3	0.50
Rheum emodi Rhubarb	Polygonaceae	3	0.50
Frangula purshiana Cascara Sagrada	Rhamnaceae	3	0.50

10 References and notes

Source column: PMC12386474 (detoxification process, quantified PMA)

PMC12386474 (detoxification process, quantified PMA)

manual

BibTeX for all 1 records

@article{anon,
  title = {PMC12386474 (detoxification process, quantified PMA)},
}

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