Colchicine, an old and well-known drug, is an alkaloid extracted from Colchicum autumnale and related species. Colchicine inhibits the deposition of uric acid crystals and is an inhibitor of mitosis. Nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, with a massive loss of fluid and electrolytes are the first clinical symptoms of colchicine poisoning. Stomach lavage and rapid gastric decontaminati...

Colchicine has a low therapeutic index. Its toxic effects generally occur at doses ≥ 0.5 mg/kg. We present the case of a 39-year-old female with toxicity following ingestion of 0.28 mg/kg. The patient presented to the emergency department (ED) with severe nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain following an intentional multidrug ingestion that included colchicine, indomethacin, and zopiclone. Desp...

OBJECTIVES Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive autoinflammatory disease characterised by paroxysmal attacks of serosal inflammation. Colchicine is highly effective in preventing these attacks but it may also disrupt the intestinal absorption of vitamin B12. We hypothesised that patients treated with colchicine for a prolonged period could develop deficiency of the vitam...

This study was aimed to obtain polyploid plants of viola (Viola acuminata Ledebour) using the antimitotic agent colchicine. Experiments consisted in using colchicine on ungerminated seeds. The seeds were plunged into colchicine solutions in concentrations of 0.01, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.20% for 24 and 48 h. Polyploidy levels (diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid) were firstly detected by chromo...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a 6-month course of anti-inflammatory treatment with colchicine in improving functional status of patients with stable chronic heart failure (CHF). BACKGROUND CHF has been shown to be associated with inflammatory activation. Inflammation has been designated as a therapeutic target in CHF. METHODS Patients with stable CHF were ...

In this study, the effects of floret sterilization with sodium hypochlorite, cold stress, heat shock, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and colchicine treatment on microspore viability and induction of symmetrical nuclei divisions were assessed in six genotypes of sugarcane. The highest microspore viability was observed when florets were sterilized with 3.0% and 3.5% sodium hypochlorite in all gen...

The PC12 line of nerve growth factor (NGF)-responsive rat pheochromocytoma cells was used as a model system to determine whether properties of microtubules change during neurite growth and maturation. In the absence of NGF, PC12 cells lack processes. After several days with NGF, PC12 cells begin extending neurites and, by 2-3 wk with NGF, PC12 cells have long (approximately 1 mm), highly branch...

The distribution of microtubules in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii suggests that they are involved in mitosis, cell and nuclear cleavage, and generation of flagella. Vinblastine, colchicine, and podophyllotoxin bind to the protein building block of microtubules (tubulin) and prevent normal assembly. Mutants resistant to these "antitubulin" drugs are candidates to have alterations in tubulin primary ...

BACKGROUND Colchicine is used in the treatment and prophylaxis of gout. It possesses a narrow therapeutic window, frequently resulting in dose-limiting gastrointestinal side-effects such as diarrhoea and emesis. As colchicine is a cellular anti-mitotic agent, the most serious effects include myelosuppression, myoneuropathy and multiple organ failure. This occurs with intentional overdose or wit...

Electron microscopic observations were undertaken on Harding-Passey melanoma in control tumors, colchicine-treated tumors, and tumors that were passed through five transplantations in mice subsequent to colchicine treatment. The untreated Harding-Passey melanoma tumor was composed of pleomorphic cells the cytoplasm of which contained tubulovesicular mitochondria and numerous free and membrane-a...