OBJECTIVEIn order to investigate that ascorbic acid deficiency is responsible for lathyrus toxicity, the effect of dietary feeding of lathyrus pulse in normal and scorbutic guinea pigs for 3 months, on intestinal biochemical parameters was undertaken.

METHODSThe intestinal brush border membrane (BBM) marker and xenobiotic metabolising enzymes (XME) were assayed.

RESULTSExposure to 80% lathyrus alone and in scorbutic conditions showed significant inhibition of alkaline phosphatase (28%-30%), sucrase (19%) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) (15%-27%) enzymes, while Ca(2+)-Mg(2+)-ATPase was significantly inhibited (38%) in scorbutic plus lathyrus treated group. The phase I XME (AHH) remained unchanged while the phase II enzyme glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was significantly decreased (20%-22%) in lathyrus and scorbutic plus lathyrus treated groups. Quinone reductase (QR) activity was found to be significantly decreased in lathyrus exposed group (20%). The intestinal biomarker contents including hexose (25%-34%) and phospholipids (20%-40%) were significantly reduced in lathyrus and scorbutic plus lathyrus exposed animals, while sialic acid showed a significant decrease (28%) in scorbutic plus lathyrus treated group. However, cholesterol levels were significantly enhanced (15%-28%) in lathyrus and scorbutic plus lathyrus treated animals.

CONCLUSIONThe results indicate that oral feeding of lathyrus pulse to guinea pigs can alter BBM parameters as well as XME, which may result in the intestinal toxicity. Further, ascorbic acid deficiency could be one of the pre-disposing factors of lathyrus toxicity.