PYRROLIZIDINE ALKALOIDOSIS IN A 2 MONTH OLD FOAL

A foal, small and jaundiced from birth, succumbed after two months to chronic hepatic damage which was characterised by fibrosis, biliary du ctular hyperplasia and the presence of pleomorphic hepatocytes contain ing either a single large nucleus or multiple nuclei. The fixed liver contained sulfur-bound pyrroles, which are derived from pyrrolizidine alkaloids. During pregnancy the pasture was heavily infested with the pyrrolizidine alkaloid-containing plant, Senecio madagascariensis. The hepatic disease affecting the foal appears to have been initiated by consumption of the alkaloids by the mare during gestation, and to repr esent a rare case of congenital pyrrolizidine alkaloidosis.