Related Conditions
A related disease has been identified and named osteolathyrism, because it affects the bones and connecting tissues, instead of the nervous system. It is a skeletal disorder, caused by the toxin beta-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), and characterized by hernias, aortic dissection, exostoses, and kyphoscoliosis and other skeletal deformities, apparently as the result of defective aging of collagen tissue. The cause of this disease is attributed to beta-aminopropionitrile, which inhibits the copper-containing enzyme lysyl oxidase, responsible for cross-linking procollagen and proelastin. BAPN is also a metabolic product of a compound present in sprouts of grasspea, pea and lentils.
Read more about this topic: Lathyrism
Famous quotes containing the words related and/or conditions:
“Women stand related to beautiful nature around us, and the enamoured youth mixes their form with moon and stars, with woods and waters, and the pomp of summer. They heal us of awkwardness by their words and looks. We observe their intellectual influence on the most serious student. They refine and clear his mind: teach him to put a pleasing method into what is dry and difficult.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)