BACKGROUND AND AIMS The phylogenetic relationships among 27 vetch species belonging to the subgenus Cracca of the genus Vicia were studied in comparison with three species of Lathyrus section Lathyrus on the basis of isozyme variation. METHODS Isozymes encoded by 15 putative loci of ten enzymes were resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isozyme variation was analysed by using par...

Toxic components of natural foodstuffs are discussed, with special reference to lathyrogens, pressor amines, azoxyglycosides, and labile sulfur compounds. The osteolathyrogen, gamma-glutamyl-beta-aminopropionitrile, in sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) seeds induces skeletal deformities and aortic rupture, probably by interfering with normal maturation of collagen fibres. Neurolathyrism in man may ...

In 1985 French investigators discovered the association of TSP with HTLV-I, a retrovirus discovered in USA in 1980. A few months after the French publication in 1985 TSP was also associated with HTLV-I in Colombia and Jamaica. In 1986 Japanese researchers published the association of HTLV-I with a similar syndrome and named the disease as HAM (HTLV-I Associated Myelopathy). Since 1988 the World...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Neurolathyrism is a non progressive motor neuron disorder engendered by the prolonged over-consumption of Lathyrus sativus (grass pea) seeds which contain a neurotoxic amino acid, β-N oxalyl- L-α, β-diaminopropionic acid (β-ODAP). It is characterized by spastic paraparesis in the hind limbs. The present study was conducted in 105 households (HHs) of Gondia district in Ma...

I t has been known for over twenty years that the feeding of sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus) seeds to rats causes skeletal deformities (osteolathyrism) (1). Recently, Ponseti and co-workers (2) have revived interest in the experimental disease of osteolathyrism (or odoratism as it is sometimes called). The condition is characterised by severe and dramatic changes induced in the mesenchymal tissue...