LATHYRISM: EVIDENCE FOR ROLE OF THE NEUROEXCITATORY AMINOACID BOAA

✍ Scribed by Spencer, PeterS.; Ludolph, Albert; Dwivedi, M.P.; Roy, DwijendraN.; Hugon, Jacques; Schaumburg, H.H.

• Book ID: 123317798
• Publisher: The Lancet
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 317 KB
• Volume: 328
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0140-6736
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(86)90468-X

✦ Synopsis

Lathyrism, a form of motoneurone disease induced by excessive consumption of the legume Lathyrus sativus (chickling pea), presents as signs of pyramidal tract involvement. Primate feeding studies show that beta-N-oxalylamino-L-alanine (BOAA), a potent neuroexcitatory aminoacid in the chickling pea, induces corticospinal dysfunction similar to that seen in animals consuming a fortified diet of this legume. BOAA, a potent agonist of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, is likely to be causally associated with lathyrism in man.