Article ID: CBB440584813

Historical Setting and Neuropathology of Lathyrism: Insights from the Neglected 1944 Report by Oliveras de la Riva (2019)

unapi

Lathyrism is a central motor system disorder recognized since antiquity resulting from prolonged dietary dependence on the grasspea (Lathyrus sativus). The neuropathology underlying the characteristic spastic paraparesis of lathyrism is sketchy. Described here is a landmark but little-known Spanish-language neuropathological study of two patients with lathyrism of recent onset. Due to erroneous interpretations of Filimonov’s influential work in 1926, it was assumed that spastic paraparesis of lathyrism was explained by destruction of Betz’s pyramidal cells in the motor cortex. Contrary to present understanding, Betz cells and anterior horn cells were preserved, and pathological findings dominated by myelin loss were largely limited to pyramidal tracts in the lumbar cord. Thickening of the adventitia of capillaries and arterioles, together with proliferation of perivascular astrocytes, was found along the length of the spinal cord. Oliveras de la Riva proposed that the segmental spinal pathology arose because distal regions of elongate pyramidal tract axons are distant from their trophic center in the motor cortex, a view not far from the current distal axonopathy concept of lathyrism. In addition, we review the historical circumstances of Filimonov’s work in Russia, a summary of the epidemic of lathyrism in Spain following its Civil War (1936–1939), and some historical aspects of the Cajal Institute in Madrid, where Oliveras de la Riva’s work was carried out under the supervision of Fernando de Castro, one of Cajal’s favorite students.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB440584813/

Similar Citations

Book Thomas G. Benedek; (2015)
Rheumatism: Its History from Paleo-Pathology to the Advent of Experimental Science (/isis/citation/CBB572778933/)

Article Teixeira, Luiz Antonio; (2010)
O controle do câncer no Brasil na primeira metade do século XX (/isis/citation/CBB001420480/)

Chapter Debru, Claude; (2007)
Les classifications et l'inclassable: le cas des leucémies (/isis/citation/CBB001022515/)

Article Grace Coco; Lucrezia Gatti; Eliana Piantanida; Daniele Gallo; Lorenzo Mortara; (2021)
Analysis of Graves’ disease from the origins to the recent historical evolution (/isis/citation/CBB424735473/)

Article Close-Koenig, Tricia; (2013)
Histopathology Slides from Medical Research to Medical Practice in Interwar Strasbourg (/isis/citation/CBB001420751/)

Article Hardy, Anne; (2003)
Animals, Disease, and Man: Making Connections (/isis/citation/CBB000300982/)

Book Coni, Nicholas; (2008)
Medicine and Warfare: Spain, 1936--1939 (/isis/citation/CBB000773993/)

Thesis Larraz Andia, Pablo; (2003)
El Hospital “Alfonso Carlos”, Pamplona, 1936--1939 (/isis/citation/CBB001562144/)

Article Pedro, Ruiz Castell.; (2010)
El estado de la astronomía en la España de la II República (/isis/citation/CBB001033790/)

Article Alberto Gomis; Dolores Ruiz-Berdún; (2016)
Matronas víctimas de la Guerra Civil Española (/isis/citation/CBB464715839/)

Article Leonardo Docanto, Francisco J.; (2012)
Isidro Parga Pondal, o Seminario de Estudos Galegos e o laboratorio de Xeoquímica da Universidade de Santiago (/isis/citation/CBB001450426/)

Article Sánchez-Ron, José M.; (2002)
International Relations in Spanish Physics from 1900 to the Cold War (/isis/citation/CBB000340905/)

Authors & Contributors
García Ferrandis, Xavier
Eliana Piantanida
Daniele Gallo
Grace Coco
Lucrezia Gatti
Mortara, Lorenzo
Concepts
Medicine
Disease and diseases
Pathology
Public health
Medicine and the military; medicine in war
Cancer; tumors
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
19th century
Modern
Renaissance
Ancient
Places
Spain
Valencia (Spain)
Catalonia (Spain)
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Argentina
United States
Institutions
Universidad de Santiago de Chile
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment