Colchicine was found to inhibit the clinical and histopathological manifestations of monophasic experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in mice. For inhibition of actively induced disease, inoculation of colchicine at the time of encephalitogenic challenge was found to be most effective. In adoptive transfer experiments, lymph node cells (LNC) from colchicine treated donors failed to transfer t...

Microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) promote tubulin polymerization, whereas colchicine inhibits this process. In this paper, MAPs have been shown to inhibit colchicine binding to tubulin in a competitive manner. Attempts were made to identify which of the MAPs fraction(s) was responsible; both tau protein (a thermostable molecule with a molecular weight of approximately 70,000) and a high mo...

AIMS Effective prevention of recurrent pericarditis remains an important yet elusive goal. Corticosteroid therapy often needs to be continued for a prolonged period and causes severe side effects. We performed a multi-centre all-case analysis to investigate the efficacy of colchicine in preventing subsequent relapses of pericarditis, and addressed the hypothesis that pretreatment with corticost...

The effect of colchicine and other antimitotic drugs was studied in cultures of 11-day chick embryo breast muscle. Exposure of such cultures to 10(-6)M colchicine results in fragmentation of the elongate myotubes into rounded, cytoplasmic sacs (myosacs) containing various numbers of nuclei. Comparison of the dose-response relation between myotube fragmentation and metaphase arrest suggests that...

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 effects of colchicine on lysosomal fusion and lysosomal enzyme induction in the cultivated mouse peritoneal macrophage have been examined. Colchicine (10- minus 6 M), but not lumicolchicine, inhibited lysosomal enzyme induction by both phagocytic and pinocytic stimuli. In addition, the drug significantly retarded pinocytic uptake of [3-H] sucrose and transport of the amino acids [3-H] alpha...

BACKGROUND Colchicine is used as an anti-inflammatory drug in the treatment of gout, familial Mediterranean fever, and Behçet disease. However, because of its potent inhibition of mitosis, adverse effects and symptoms of intoxication are frequent. Clinical manifestations of colchicine intoxication include abdominal cramps, diarrhea, and multiorgan failure including cardiovascular collapse with ...

Colchicine has been reported to destroy ganglion cells (GCs) in the retina of hatchling chicks. We tested whether colchicine influences normal ocular growth and form-deprivation myopia, and whether it affects cells other than GCs. Colchicine greatly increased axial length, equatorial diameter, eye weight, and myopic refractive error, while reducing corneal curvature. Colchicine caused DNA fragm...

The specific inhibitory effect of colchicine upon protein secretion by lacrimal glands could be related to the formation of a complex between colchicine and tubulin from the soluble fraction of the gland. By gel electrophoresis under nondissociating conditions, it is shown that this complex is similar to the colchicine . tubulin complex from brain. The complex isolated from lacrimal glands is h...

Colchicine treatment enhanced Con A-mediated agglutination of erythrocytes to LM cells (LM is a "spontaneously" transformed mouse line) incubated for brief periods with Con A at 22“ C. Longer incubations with Con A at 22' C rendered colchicine treated cells less agglutinable than untreated cells. Even short incubation times with Con A at higher temperature (37' C) rendered colchicine treated LM...