Islet cell tumors of the pancreas found in rats given pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Amsinckia intermedia Fisch and Mey and from Heliotropium supinum L.

One adenoma and one adenocarcinoma of the islet cells and one adenoma of the exocrine pancreas were found in 3 out of 15 rats given a single dose (500 to 1500 mg/kg body weight) of pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Amsinckia intermedia Fisch and Mey (Boraginaceae), tarweed, a plant known to cause livestock losses from liver damage in the United States. Among rats treated with Heliotropium supinum L. (Boraginaceae), a hepatotoxic Ethiopian plant (known to be used in East Africa by women after childbirth), one islet cell adenoma was found in one out of six rats that were given a single dose of its crude alkaloidal fraction (300 mg/kg body weight) and one adenocarcinoma in one out of two rats that had the dried plant H. supinum in their diet for 1 month. The five rats with pancreatic tumors were 26 to 31.5 months old when killed. Such tumors have not been noticed among control rats of similar ages.