The effect of colchicine, Nocodazole or vinblastine on the movement of mouse bone marrow neutrophils was examined by the method of migration under agarose. Migration was estimated by counts of the numbers of cells that left the wells and moved under the gel. Micromolar concentrations of the agents increased spontaneous migration 2- to 4-fold, while lumicolchicine was ineffective. The increase m...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to investigate whether oral colchicine has an effect on peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) patients. METHODS We conducted a cross sectional study by comparing pRNFL thickness of FMF patients on colchicine (treated group), newly diagnosed colchicine naïve FMF patients (untreated group) and heal...

BACKGROUND Colchicine seems to be a good drug for treating recurrences of pericarditis after conventional treatment failure, but no clinical trial has tested the effects of colchicine as first-line drug for the treatment of the first recurrence of pericarditis. METHODS A prospective, randomized, open-label design was used to investigate the safety and efficacy of colchicine therapy as adjunct...

The role of cytoskeletal microtubules and microfilaments in modulating cAMP generation in S49 lymphoma cells was investigated using the agents colchicine and cytochalasin B, respectively, which are known to disrupt these structures. A 1-hr pretreatment of S49 cells with 10 microM colchicine typically enhanced maximal isoproterenol-(beta-adrenergic receptor) stimulated cAMP accumulation by 100%,...

BACKGROUND The high prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in the postoperative period of myocardial revascularization surgery increases morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of colchicine to prevent AF in the postoperative period of myocardial revascularization surgery, the impact of AF on hospital length of stay and death, and to identify its risk factors. METHODS Betw...

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) toxicity was induced in vivo by intravenous administration of 15 micrograms of recombinant murine TNF-alpha per kg to galactosamine-sensitized mice. Within 8 h, the animals developed a fulminant hepatitis. Intravenous administration of 0.5 mg of colchicine per kg at 19 and 4 h prior to TNF challenge protected the animals against hepatitis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-st...

Previous studies in cultured, polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney II (MDCKII) renal epithelial cells have demonstrated that the apical steady-state localization and delivery of the A(1) adenosine receptor is modified by disruption of the microtubule network with colchicine, whereas the basolateral localization and trafficking of the alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors (alpha(2)AR) are not; instead, t...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to determine whether colchicine 0.5 mg/day can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with clinically stable coronary disease. BACKGROUND The presence of activated neutrophils in culprit atherosclerotic plaques of patients with unstable coronary disease raises the possibility that inhibition of neutrophil function with colchicine may re...

OBJECTIVE To assess the efficacy of a multidrug protocol in recurrent acute pericarditis. We tried also to assess the specific role of colchicine. METHODS We studied 58 patients (34 males) in the largest monocentric observational study. All patients received prolonged courses of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; generally we do not start a corticosteroid in recurrent acute pericarditis, ...

The microtubule inhibitor colchicine is cardiotoxic and is suggested to impair impulse formation and conduction. However, little is known about the electrocardiographic (ECG) changes induced by colchicine in experimental animals and the detailed pathogenesis of its cardiotoxicity. Therefore, we analyzed cardiotoxicity in colchicine-treated rats using electrocardiographic, histopathological and ...