Plant Neurotoxins (Lathyrogens and Cyanogens)

This paper deals with developments made in the area of toxins from lathyrus and vetch peas since our last review in 1964.1 The active principles, which include 3-amino-propionitrile (BAPN), 3-cyanoalanine (β-CNala), 2,4-diamino-butyric acid (DAB), and 3-N-(oxalyl)-2,3-diaminopropionic acid (OX-DAP), were isolated in free or bound form in our or other laboratories over the past twenty years, in studies relating to the neurological disease lathyrism in man.