OBJECTIVE To study an array of household individual and dietary risk factors for neurolathyrism. METHOD Case-control study using recent cases in a district highly affected by the recent neurolathyrism epidemic in Ethiopia: 108 households with cases and 104 households with no cases; 170 neurolathyrism cases, 370 intra-family controls and 170 community controls frequency matched for age and sex...

OBJECTIVES To describe the neurolathyrism epidemic in Ethiopia and to identify associated household factors. METHODS We interviewed 589 randomly selected heads of household in Debre Sina district of Ethiopia, the area afflicted by the recent neurolathyrism epidemic. Disease information was obtained for 2987 family members. RESULTS Neurolathyrism patients were detected in 56 (9.5%) household...

Konzo (caused by consumption of improperly processed cassava, Manihot esculenta) and neurolathyrism (caused by prolonged overconsumption of grass pea, Lathyrus sativus) are two distinct non-infectious upper motor neurone diseases with identical clinical symptoms of spastic paraparesis of the legs. They affect many thousands of people among the poor in the remote rural areas in the central and s...

Neurolathyrism is a unique neurodegeneration disease caused by β-N-oxalyl-L-α, β- diaminopropionic (β-ODAP) present in grass pea seed (Lathyrus stativus L.) and its pathogenetic mechanism is unclear. This issue has become a critical restriction to take full advantage of drought-tolerant grass pea as an elite germplasm resource under climate change. We found that, in a human glioma cell line, β-...

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...

Fifty year ago, a paper in Biochemistry by Professor S.L.N. Rao described the chemical structure of a new amino acid occurring abundantly in the seeds of Lathyrus sativus and believed to be the cause of the human crippling disease neurolathyrism. Since then this non-protein amino acid β-N-oxalyl-l-α, βdiaminopropionic acid or β-ODAP, has been the focus of numerous studies in a great variety of ...

Introduction Grass pea consumption leads to neurolathyrism and a safer use of this environmentally adaptable crop needs cultivars with decreased neurotoxin levels. Were they cross-compatible, grass peas would be useful genetic resources for disease resistance breeding of peas (Pisum sativum L.). In vitro selection (9) and gene transfer may provide grass peas better adapted for consumption, whil...