Hindawi Publishing Corporation Te Scientifc World Journal Volume 2013, Article ID 798096, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/798096 Research Article Effects of Biochemical Alteration in Animal Model after Short-Term Exposure of Jatropha curcas (Linn) Leaf Extract Osamuyimen O. Igbinosa, 1 Efosa F. Oviasogie, 2 Etinosa O. Igbinosa, 2,3 Otibhor Igene, 4 Isoken H. Igbinosa, 3 and Omoruyi G. Idemudia 5 1 Department of Medicine, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ, USA 2 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria 3 Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa 4 College of Medicine, America University of Antigua, Antigua And Barbuda 5 Department of Chemistry, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa Correspondence should be addressed to Etinosa O. Igbinosa; eigbinosa@gmail.com Received 25 March 2013; Accepted 5 May 2013 Academic Editors: H.-W. Chang, S. Guleria, and S. Yasmin Copyright © 2013 Osamuyimen O. Igbinosa et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Tis study aims to evaluate potential toxic efect of Jatropha curcas leaves methanol extract on laboratory rats as well as determine its LD 50 . A total of 80 male Wistar rats were used as the experimental animals, 40 for LD 50 determination and the other 40 for toxicity study. Based on the pretest that was done in order to establish a range of toxicity, 4 dosages (86.00, 58.00, 46.00, and 34.0 kg/body weight) were chosen. Te rats were randomly assigned into four groups with 10 rats in each group. Rats in groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 were given 0 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 2000 mg/kg body weight of Jatropha curcas extract, respectively, by oral intubation for 21 days. Tereafer, clinical signs, change in body weight, toxicity symptoms, and biochemical parameters were obtained. Te LD 50 at 95% confdence limits for rats was 46.0 mg/kg body weight (44.95–52.69 mg/kg body mass). Tere was no clinical and biochemical signs of toxicity when the extract was administered at 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg body weight, respectively ( > 0.05). Results obtained from this study suggest that liver, kidney, and haematological system of rats tolerated methanolic leave extract of Jatropha curcas at a certain concentration. 1. Introduction Te continued interest in the evaluation of natural products as potential chemotherapeutic agents is encouraged by the iso- lation of phytochemicals in the plants, which could become important drugs in modern medicine. Plants produce bioac- tive compounds or molecules that act as defence mechanisms against predators and at the same time may be toxic in nature [1, 2]. With the increased interest in medicinal plants, there is a need for thorough scientifc investigations of these plants for efcacy and potential toxicity. Jatropha curcas (Linn) belonging to the family Euphor- biaceae is a shrub that grows 4.5 to 8 meters high. Te roots, leaves, and seeds of the plant have been widely used in traditional folk medicine in many parts of West Africa, Central and South America. Previous studies have shown that the plant exhibits bioactive activities for fever, mouth infections, jaundice, and guinea worm sores [3]. Fagbenro- Beyioku et al. [4] reported antiparasitic activity of the sap and crushed leaves of J. curcas. Te water extract of the branches also strongly inhibited HIV-induced cytopathic efects with low cytotoxicity [5]. Mujumdar et al. [6] also reported that the crude methanol extract from the root of J. curcas exhibited antidiarrheal activity in mice through inhi- bition of prostaglandin biosynthesis and reduction of osmotic pressure. Our biological study on J. curcas reported relevant antimicrobial efcacy and antioxidant activities [7, 8]. Balaji et al. [9] reported that methanol extract of J. curcas could pro- tect liver against the afatoxin B1-induced oxidative damage in rats. Despite all benefcial efects of J. curcas, some studies have also demonstrated that J. curcas exhibited toxicity espe- cially in higher animals. For example, methanol, petroleum