Lathyrism

The important variety of Lathyrus:

Varieties. Ratan, RLS-4595, B-1, Pusa-24, LS 157-14, HD-3, LSD-6, Prateek, Maha
Teora.
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This article is about the group of diseases. For other uses, see Lathyrism
(disambiguation).

Lathyrism

Specialty Toxicology

Symptoms Weakness, fatigue, paralysis of the legs, atrophy of leg muscles, and skeletal deformities

Usual onset Gradual

Duration Permanent

Types Neurolathyrism

Osteolathyrism

Angiolathyrism

Causes Overconsumption of Legumes containing ODAP (neurolathyrism) or beta-aminopropionitrile (angio-

and osteolathyrism)

Diagnostic Based on symptoms and diet

method

Treatment Supportive care

Frequency Rare
 Lathyrism is a condition, caused by eating certain legumes of
the genus Lathyrus. There are three types of lathyrism: neurolathyrism, osteolathyrism,
and angiolathyrism, all of which are permanent but differ in symptoms and the affected
tissues.[1]
Neurolathyrism is the type associated with the consumption of legumes in the
genus Lathyrus that contain the toxin ODAP. ODAP ingestion results in motorneuron
death. The result is paralysis and muscle atrophy of the lower limbs.
Osteolathyrism, a different type of lathyrism, affects the connective tissues, not
the motorneurons.Osteolathyrism results from the ingestion of Lathyrus odoratus seeds
(sweet peas) and is often referred to as odoratism. It is caused by a different toxin
(beta-aminopropionitrile), which affects the linking of collagen, a protein of connective
tissues. Another type of lathyrism is angiolathyrism, which is similar to osteolathyrism in
its effects on connective tissue by means of the toxin beta-aminopropionitrile. However,
the blood vessels are affected as opposed to bone.

Contents

 1Types
o 1.1Neurolathyrism
o 1.2Osteolathyrism
o 1.3Angiolathyrism
 2Prevention
 3History
o 3.1Association with famine
 4Related conditions
 5References

Types [edit]
Neurolathyrism [edit]
Main article: Neurolathyrism
Neurolathyrism is caused by the consumption of large quantities of Lathyrus grain,
specifically the grains in the genus that contain the glutamate analogue
neurotoxin ODAP (also known as β-N-oxalyl-amino-L-alanine, or BOAA). Lathyrus
sativus (also known as grass pea, chickling pea, kesari dal, or almorta) and to a lesser
degree with Lathyrus cicera, Lathyrus ochrus and Lathyrus clymenum[3]
Osteolathyrism [edit]
Main article: Osteolathyrism
Osteolathyrism affects the bones and connecting tissues, instead of the nervous
system. It is a skeletal disorder. It is caused by the toxin beta-aminopropionitrile which
inhibits the copper-containing enzyme lysyl oxidase, responsible for cross-linking
procollagen and proelastin. BAPN is also a metabolic product of a compound present in
sprouts of grasspea, pea and lentils.[4]
 Angiolathyrism [edit]
Main article: Angiolathyrism
Angiolathyrism affects the collagen in blood capillaries. It is also caused by the toxin
beta-aminopropionitrile.

Prevention [edit]
Eating the chickling pea with grain having high concentrations of sulphur-based amino
acids reduces the risk of lathyrism if grain is available. Some states in India have
banned the sale of Lathyrus legumes in order to prevent the consumption of them,
which in turn lessens the possibility of lathyrism in the general population.[5]

History [edit]
The first mentioned intoxication goes back to ancient India and
also Hippocrates mentions a neurological disorder 46 B.C. in Greece caused by
Lathyrus seed.[6] Lathyrism was occurring on a regular basis.
During the Spanish War of Independence against Napoleon, grasspea served as a
famine food. This was the subject of one of Francisco de Goya's famous aquatint prints
titled Gracias a la Almorta ("Thanks to the Grasspea"), depicting poor people surviving
on a porridge made from grasspea flour, one of them lying on the floor, already crippled
by it.
During WWII, on the order of Colonel I. Murgescu, commandant of the Vapniarka
concentration camp in Transnistria, the detainees - most of them Jews - were fed nearly
exclusively with fodder pea. Consequently, they became ill from lathyrism.[7]
In the film Ashes [English title] by Andrzej Wajda based on the novel Popioly [Polish
title] translated as Lost army [English title] by Stefan Żeromski spanning the period
1798–1812, a horse is poisoned by grain from a Spanish village. The footage of the
horse losing control of its hind legs suggests that it was fed with Almortas.
Association with famine [edit]
Ingestion of legumes containing the toxin occurs, although knowledge of how to detoxify
Lathyrus is present, but drought conditions can lead to fuel and water shortages
preventing the necessary steps from being taken, particularly in impoverished countries.
[8]
Lathyrism usually occurs where the despair of poverty and malnutrition leaves few
other food options.

Related conditions [edit]

Disorders that are clinically similar are konzo and Lytico-bodig disease.
 Lathyrus sativus (Grasspea) has been widely cultivated in South Asia and
Ethiopia for over 2500 years and is used as a food and feed. It is rich in protein
content, around 30 g/100 g edible seeds. Agronomically, the species is able to
withstand both severe drought as well as water logging. Although seeds of
grasspea are tasty and protein rich, excessive consumption of the seeds causes
a motor neuron disease called neurolathyrism which is characterized by the
paralysis of the lower limbs. The neurotoxic causal agent of this disease is
believed to be a non protein aminoacid called Oxalyl Di aminopropionic Acid
(ODAP). Morphological marker analysis and molecular analysis have been used
widely to estimate genetic variability of populations. These methods have useful
in addressing questions on population genetic structure and genetic
conservation. Knowledge of genetic diversity of species is particularly
important, since modem breeding practices have narrowed the genetic diversity
of cultivated crops. In the case of grasspea, the problem of Lathyrism is leading
to the banning of its production which in tum aggravates genetic erosion and
loss of diversity of the crop. Fifty one grasspea accessions which were selected
from the genebank collection of International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)
were evaluated and characterized for different qualitative and quantitative
morphological characters. Cluster analysis was performed to estimate
differences between accessions. Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD)
was also used to study the nature of variation. In addition to L. sativus, three
other species of the genus (L.cicera, L. clymenum and L. ochrus) and seventeen
unidentified populations of Lathyrus were also evaluated for morphological and
biochemical characters and characterized accordingly. Cluster analysis of both
the morphological and the RAPD data showed that all of the unidentified
Lathyrus populations were found to be L. sativus. The result also showed that
two of the accessions (5295 and 5296) represented by L. oehrus and one
accession (5282) represented by L. cieem were found to be L. sativus. The
results would suggest that germplasm evaluation is important for proper
characterization of populations.

References[edit]
1. ^ "Lathyrus". AACC. The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). Retrieved 30
July 2020.
2. ^ Ahmad, Kamal (1982). Adverse Effects of Foods. Springer, Massachusettes: Springer US. pp. 71–
2. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-3359-3_8. ISBN 978-1-4613-3359-3.
3. ^ "Medical problems caused by plants: Lathyrism" at Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical
Medicine online database
4. ^ COHN, D.F. (1995) "Are other systems apart from the nervous system involved in human
lathyrism?" in Lathyrus sativus and Human Lathyrism: Progress and Prospects. Ed. Yusuf H, Lambein
F. University of Dhaka. Dhaka pp. 101-2.
5. ^ Singh, S. P.; Bhawnani, Dhiraj; Parihar, Ajit; Verma, Nirmal (15 September 2016). "An
epidemiological study on incidence and determinants of Lathyrism". The Journal of Community Health
Management. 3 (3): 113–122. doi:10.5958/2394-2738.2016.00025.X. ISSN 2394-2738. Retrieved 2
July 2020.
6. ^ Mark V. Barrow; Charles F. Simpson; Edward J. Miller (1974). "Lathyrism: A Review". The Quarterly
Review of Biology. 49 (2): 101–
128. doi:10.1086/408017. JSTOR 2820941. PMID 4601279. S2CID 33451792.
7. ^ isurvived.org: The Holocaust in Romania Under the Antonescu Government, by Marcu Rozen.
8. ^ Lathyrism
2.