The great biodiversity of medicinal plants in Mexico is  an important  source  of  remedies with an enormous cultural acceptance  (Cirilo Aguilar et al., 2011). Although the use of medicinal plants was neglected for a long time, there is currently a great interest in their study due to their great therapeutic potential. That interest is focused today, essentially, on the pharmacological benefits derived from the consumption of the extracts from the fruits, seeds, vegetables, barks and roots. However, the lack of medicines and the adverse effects of many of them have made the use of medicinal plants and their extracts to play an important role for the treatment of ailments such as diabetes and cancer (Kim et al., 2013). Large number of plants belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family have been shown to have a number of medicinal benefits, industrial utility and applications in food (Sharma and Singh, 2012). Some authors have reported on the use of Jatropha species to produce biodiesel (Fresnedo-Ramírez and Orozco-Ramírez, 2013). In addition, it was reported that this species has important  effects anticonvulsants, anticancer, hypoglycemic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant (Kumar et al., 2016; Sharma and Singh, 2012).

The plants bloom in spring and early summer. The fruits are globose with seeds inside (Eggli, 2001; Valenzuela Soto, 2014).

Traditional usage of J. dioica

From a medical stand point, the use of J. dioica is diverse and has been attributed to each of the parts that make up this plant. Endemic to Mexico, this plant is known by different names throughout the country: batacora (Baja California), coatli and dexthi (Hidalgo), drago, felondilla and gualulo (Hidalgo), matacora (Baja California), piñon de cerro, sangre de drago (Hidalgo, Valle de Mexico), sangre de grado (Durango, Valle de Mexico), sangre gaco, sangregada and sangregado (Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Sonora), sangregrado (Durango, San Luis Potosi, Sonora, Zacatecas), sangregrao and suzi (Oaxaca), tacote prieto (Sinaloa, Sonora), telondilla (Ciudad de Mexico, Hidalgo), tlapalezapatli (Nahuatl), torote amarillo and torote prieto (Baja California) (Manzanero-Medina et al., 2009).

The root is macerated or boiled in order to extract a liquid which is then used to rinse the hair and slow hair loss (Razo Rodríguez and Alvarado Bárcenas, 2014). Similarly, once boiled, the resulting liquid can be used as bath water to cleanse wound infections (Wong-Paz et al., 2010), weakness, kidney pains and problems with absorption (Manzanero-Medina et al., 2009). In order to treat these illnesses, a fistful of roots should be boiled in approximately three or four liters of water (Castillo et al., 2010). Due to its high tannin content, it is used as a dye, a preservative and mainly to tan animal skins (Castillo et al., 2010). It also functions as an antibiotic. It treats periodontist, and also alleviates pain when the roots or stalk are chewed. It reduces inflammation of the venous and  respiratory   passages   (ulcers   and   hemorrhoids), cures acne and other skin allergies and treats dandruff and itching (Bravo Luna et al., 2000)in addition to healing wounds (Ocegueda, 2005).

The stalk is utilized in the treatment of colon, prostate, cervical, tongue, stomach and skin cancers in their early stages (Martínez et al., 2014). Drops of liquid extracted from the stalk are then mixed in a liter of water and taken daily (Barba Avila et al., 2003). It is also used against ascorbic acid deficiency (Oropeza Dominguez, 2006).

The leaf and seeds are consumed as laxatives (Can-Aké et al., 2004). It is also said to be useful in the treatment of sore eyes, the elimination of cloudiness of vision and blindness. To do so, the fruit is squeezed, thereby allowing a few drops to fall directly into the eye (Arturo et al., 1994). It has also been reportedly used against scleral diseases (Valenzuela Soto, 2014). Oil extracted from the seeds is used to treat oral blisters, eczema and itchiness. This oil contains phenolic components, which promote biological antifungal activity (Pabón and Hernández-Rodríguez, 2012).

Antimicrobial and antifungal activity 

The extracts of J. dioica has shown different antimicrobial activity depending on the solvent used in the preparation and the part of the plant used. Root extract made with hexanol was more potent than extracts made with alcohol and acetone. These extracts were evaluated in human pathogens such as Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Salmonella typhimurium, Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, and Sorothrix schenckii. This high antibacterial and antifungal activity may come from the presence of β-sitosterol (terpene) compounds in the plant (Silva-Belmares et al., 2014).

Soxhlet extracts of roots prepared with different solvent concentration were evaluated against S. aureus, E. coli, Serratia marcescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus mutans (strands 35531 and 31377), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (strands 042, 88142, 17-2, 88145, and 49766) (Escareño-Piña, 2017; Terrazas-Hernández et al., 2018). Hexane extract showed the best inhibitory behavior with the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration against S. mutans and Klebsiella pneumoniae. In other studies, methanol extracts were assessed for the activity against S. aureus and K. pneumonia (Dominguez et al., 1980; Serrano-Gallardo et al., 2017). Studies indicate that the hydro-alcoholic extracts of the root has an activity against C. albicans (Alanís-Garza et al., 2007), which was confirmed by others (Oliveira Simone et al., 2013)who also determined the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum fungicidal concentration leaves and roots extracts. This plant has been used as tooth strengthening remedy, thus the ethanoic root extracts (Terrazas-Hernández et al., 2018)and aqueous plant extracts (Vargas-Segura et al., 2018)were recently evaluated against S. mutans and the minimum inhibitory concentration and half maximal inhibitory concentration were determined to be 2 mg/mL and 250 ppm, respectively.

Antiviral effect

Silva-Mares et al. (2013) reported that J. dioica root hydro-methanolic extract showed antiviral activity against herpes type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2, respectively). The fractions of hexane were analyzed chromatographically, indicating the presence of metabolite diterpene (riolozatrione) as the main compound. The authors also mentioned that the extract displayed slight cytotoxicity.

Hypoglycemic effect

Within the family Euphorbiaceae, the genus Jatropha has been considered as a therapeutic alternative for the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM) (Aladodo et al., 2013; Kumar et al., 2016). Other studies show the hypoglycemic effect of the phenolic fraction and ethanolic extract isolated from leaves of Jatropha aethiopica. The authors deduced that the ethanolic extract as the phenolic fraction contributes to the improvement of glucose tolerance, but the ethanolic extract exhibited a relatively greater effect compared to a biguanide such as metformin (Gamiotea-Turro et al., 2018).

The study by Rahuja et al. (2013) evaluated Jatropha gossypifolia L. extracts against type 2 diabetes mellitus.

They found a significant lowering of blood glucose level in  DM-induced  rats.  The  authors  suggested   that   the extracts probably have insulin secretaceous activity related to inhibitory activity for a-glucosidase, enzyme hydrolase, essential for the catabolism of glycogen to glucose in the lysosomes, thus reducing the absorption of carbohydrates from the digestive tract, which can stop the release of D-glucose, thus reducing the plasma glucose levels (Sevilla-Asencio et al., 2013). Another study by Granados et al. (2015) showed an improvement in glucose absorption and tolerance on two cell models (Myotubes C2C12 and adipocytes 3T3-L1), with exposure to extracts of J. gossypifolia for 4 h, in vivo.

Hypoglycemic activity has been attributed to extracts of Jatropha curcas leaves showing improvement of changes in lipid metabolism in DM alloxan induced rats, significantly reducing glucose levels, more so at a higher dose (Patil et al., 2011), which could be attributed to the presence of specifically expressed sequence tags in that plant (Sahu et al., 2014). J. dioica also has shown to have hypoglycemic activity (Alarcon et al., 1998).

Antioxidant activity and genoprotector effect of J. dioica

The presence of terpenoids compounds, flavonoids, reducing sugars and alkaloids are possibly responsible for the antioxidant effect observed using model radical scavenger (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH) for the root extracts of J. dioica (Wong-Paz et al., 2014). Similarly, the plant extracts show a genoprotector effect on mouse liver, renal and bone marrow cells evaluated with comet assay  (Martínez et al., 2014; Ramírez-Moreno et al.). Using root extract of J. dioica showed that antioxidant activity is directly proportional to the amount of polyphenols in hydro-alcoholic (Ramírez et al., 2016).

The antioxidant capacity was demonstrated using a radical scavenger’s DPPH and radical cation scavenger (2,2-azino-bis 3 ethyl benzothiazoline-6- sulfonic acid) ABTS relating it to the presence of phenolic compounds in the plant (Wong-Paz et al., 2015). Studies looked at the sterilization effect on the extracts of J. dioica root (Terrazas-Hernández et al., 2018). They reported that even though the high temperatures of sterilization increased total phenolic content (TPC) and changed the color of the solution (Maillard reactions), it did not influence its antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS arrays) or antibacterial behavior against S. mutans. TPC also depends on the climate condition and extraction method (Gutiérrez-Tlahque et al., 2018), with winter drought, UV exposure, and solvent composition higher in alcohol increasing the concentration and antioxidant activity. Similarly, solvent composition (% alcohol) and extraction method (heat reflux vs. ultrasound-assisted) can strongly influence the amount of TPC in the plant extract (Wong-Paz et al., 2014).