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Ricin (/ ˈ r aɪ s ɪ n / RY-sin) is a lectin (a carbohydrate-binding protein) and a highly potent toxin produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis.The median lethal dose (LD 50) of ricin for mice is around 22 micrograms per kilogram of body weight via intraperitoneal injection.
According to the Guinness World Records, this is the world's most poisonous common plant. [22] If ricin is ingested, symptoms commonly begin within two to four hours, but may be delayed by up to 36 hours. These include a burning sensation in mouth and throat, abdominal pain, purging and bloody diarrhea.
In 2003, a package and letter sealed in a "ricin-contaminated" envelope was intercepted in Greenville, South Carolina, at a United States Postal Service processing center. [16] Ricin was detected in the mail at the White House in Washington, D.C., in November 2003. The letter containing it was intercepted at a mail handling facility off the ...
The average functionality (number of hydroxyl groups per triglyceride molecule) of castor oil is 2.7, so it is widely used as a rigid polyol and in coatings. [1] One particular use is in a polyurethane concrete where a castor-oil emulsion is reacted with an isocyanate (usually polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate ) and a cement and ...
It is known as SRL precisely because it is the target of both α-sarcin and ricin. Ricin is the best known representative of the ribosomal inactivating protein (RIP) family. [22] RIPs are also highly specialized toxic proteins produced by plants and fungi that inactivate ribosomes acting as N-glycosidases.
Chondrodendron tomentosum, the main source of 'tube curare' and principal source of D-tubocurarine (DTC), the alkaloid constituting medicinal curare Strychnos toxifera, the Strychnos species which is the principal source of 'calabash curare' and its main active constituent, the alkaloid toxiferine
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Is the density of ricin so low that a pinhead-sized amount (I assume on the order of 10^-9 m^3) weighs only 0.5 mg? Or does this refer to a different delivery mechanism than injection or inhalation? "Ricin is 6 billion times more toxic than cyanide and 12 billion times more poisonous than rattlesnake venom by weight." This seems very unlikely.