Early skeletal and vascular changes in rats fed on sweet pea (lathyrus odoratus) seeds

Abstract

The disease caused by the copious ingestion of leguminous food was first recognised by Ramazzini, who described an outbreak of lathyrism in Modena in 1690, but it is probable that it had been known by Hippocrates (Stockman 1929). In 1868 Irving referred to the prevalence of the illness in India and described its main features, particularly muscle spasm; he found that 7 per cent of the population under review were affected. Acton (1922) studied the disease in the population of the town of Ravat (India) and found that about 6 per cent of the children showed signs of lathyrism. Vivanco and Jimenez Diaz (1951) described similar findings in Spain. Stockman (1929) reported his results of feeding guinea pigs on sweet pea meal; all died within one to five weeks. He believed that the cause was not so much poisoning as a deficiency state due partly to scurvy. The deleterious effects ofleguminous diet have been ascribed to an alkaloid (devicine) by Anderson, Howard and Simonsen (1925), isolated by them from Lathyrus odoratus, the sweet pea. Lee (1950) found that the acid of the stomach destroyed this alkaloid, thus excluding the probability that it caused lathyrism due to an ingested leguminous diet. He also exonerated enzymes, as the toxic factor persisted after boiling: Dupuy and Lee (1954) reported the isolation of a crystalline substance, later identified as B (Y -L glutamyl) aminopropionitrile by Schilling and Strong (1954). Ponseti and Baird (1952) and Ponseti and Shepard (1954) reported the first experimental observations on· the disease process with special reference to its effect on the skeleton and the rest of the mesodermal system. They described a widespread lesion of the epiphysial plates and a loosening and detachment of ligamentous and tendinous insertions causing many varied lesions and deformities, some of the latter probably being sequelae and not part of the disease entity. They believed that the active principle contained in the lathyrus pea, producing the skeletal changes, was B-aminopropionitrile. The present work has been undertaken in order to study the earliest changes of the disease in the skeleton, and to detect the role played by blood vessels in the affected regions. It was also hoped to determine whether the changes were reversible or not.