Title: lathyrism
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - lathyrism
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.11847
Status: current

Definition
Disease characterised by spastic paralysis of the legs and lower part of the body, pain, hyperesthesia, and paresthesia.

Note
Lathyrism is due to excessive ingestion of seeds of plants of the genus Lathyrus, which includes many kinds of pea, including Lathyrus sativa (grass pea). These seeds contain the glutamate analog and neurotoxicant oxalyldiaminopropionic acid (3-[(carboxycarbonyl)amino]alanine)).

Related Terms
- glutamate: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11792
- hyperesthesia: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11817
- neurotoxicant: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11949
- paralysis: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11989
- paresthesia: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/11996
- spastic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/12082

Source
- PAC, 2015, 87, 841. 'IUPAC Glossary of terms used in neurotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2015)' on page 877 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0103)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11847/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11847/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/11847/xml

Citation: Citation: 'lathyrism' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.11847
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Accessed: 2026-07-13T05:11:01+00:00