Comparative toxicities of alpha- and beta-N-oxalyl-L-alpha, beta-diaminopropionic acids to rat spinal cord.
alpha- and beta-N-oxalyl-L-alpha, beta-diaminopropionic acids, isolated from Lathyrus sativus seed, which is implicated in the pathogenesis of human neurolathyrism, were injected into rat lumbar cerebrospinal fluid. The alpha-isomer was neither acutely nor chronically toxic, whereas the beta-isomer was both an acute and a chronic neurotoxin in this test system. These results are relevant to the aetiology of neurolathyrism and suggest that the conversion of the beta- to the alpha-isomer that occurs during boiling of the seed prior to human consumption reduces the neurotoxicity of the seed.
D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000294:innervation; D007536:Isomerism; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects*; D014118:Toxins, Biological / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino; D014118:Toxins, Biological; C100126:oxalyldiaminopropionic acid