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A METHOD FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF THE CHRONIC HEPATOXICITY OF PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOIDS
Author(s) -
Jago Marjorie V
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1970.9
Subject(s) - pyrrolizidine , pyrrolizidine alkaloid , acute toxicity , pharmacology , toxicity , alkaloid , body weight , chronic toxicity , toxicology , medicine , traditional medicine , biology , botany
Summary A method for the assessment of the relative chronic hepatotoxicity of pyrrolizidine alkaloids is described. Graded doses of the test‐compounds over the dose range 0·025–3·2 mmoles/kg. body weight were administered as single, intraperitoneal injections to two‐week‐old rats and the livers of the survivors examined four weeks later. The relative acute toxicity of the test‐compound was indicated by the dose‐levels which caused death within about a week and the chronic hepatotoxicity by those which produced hepatic megalocytosis within four weeks of the injection. It is suggested that the severity and extent of the megalocytosis produced is a measure of the persistent antimitotic action of the alkaloids. Detailed results of the screening of seven pyrrolizidine alkaloids are given.