We highlight this month a report of a number of experiments documenting aminonitriles as the source of lathyrism, a disease
known since antiquity and recognized by the early twentieth century to be related to high dietary levels of peas of the genus
Lathyrus [
1]. Earlier workers had related the occurrence of nonskeletal lesions (degeneration of the nervous system associated with spastic
paraplegia, pain, hypesthesias) in humans and skeletal lesions (kyphoscoliosis, exostoses, lameness) in animals. Because the
disease in humans and animals appeared distinct, and perhaps related to ingestion of different species of Lathyrus peas, others
had suggested applying the term lathyrism only to the human condition and odoratism (from Lathyrus odoratus) to the animal
condition [
2]. Finally, several groups had isolated aminonitriles from peas that produced odoratism. Ponseti and colleagues [
1] completed the loop by feeding aminonitriles to growing animals (rabbits, rats, frogs, chickens), and produced a wide variety
of skeletal lesions relating to abnormalities he identified in the growth plates: slipping of the upper femoral epiphysis
(Fig.
3) and kyphoscoliosis (Figs.
6,
7). However, the lesions were not limited to the skeleton, but also caused dissecting aneurysm, suggesting interference of
the aminonitriles in metabolic pathways involving common structural proteins.
Fig. 3 An 8-week-old rabbit fed stock diet containing 0.2 per cent AAN from 6 weeks of age. This rabbit had bilateral complete slipping
of the upper humeral epiphyses. (Reprinted with permission from Ponseti IV. Skeletal lesions produced by aminonitriles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1957;9:131–144.)
Fig. 6 Roentgenograms of a 13-week-old rat fed a stock diet containing 50 per cent Lathyrus odoratus peas from 4 weeks of age. Note scoliosis, thoracic deformity, subluxation of the shoulders and bowing of the long bones.
(Reprinted with permission from Ponseti IV. Skeletal lesions produced by aminonitriles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1957;9:131–144.)
Fig. 7 Sagittal section of the mid-thoracic vertebrae in a 56-day-old rat fed a stock diet containing 0.2 per cent BAPN from 23 days
of age. Slipping of one vertebra and loosening of the interspinous ligaments at the level of the slipping can be seen. (Reprinted
with permission from Ponseti IV. Skeletal lesions produced by aminonitriles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1957;9:131–144.)
