Prescrire Int. 2000 Aug;9(48):116.
Dangers of low-dose colchicine in patients with renal failure.

[No authors listed]

(1) Life-threatening colchicine intoxication can occur in patients with renal failure, even with low-dose regimens. (2) Diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting are the first manifestations of overdose. Colchicine must be withdrawn immediately to avoid severe complications (especially haematological and neuromuscular). (3) Colchicine must not be prescribed without first assessing creatinine clearance (using the Cockroft formula, for example), especially in elderly patients.


Online pharmacy ref source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11067723&dopt=Abstract colchicine



J Appl Physiol. 2003 Apr;94(4):1627-33. Epub 2002 Dec 13.
Colchicine attenuates left ventricular hypertrophy but preserves cardiac function of aortic-constricted rats.

Scopacasa BS, Teixeira VP, Franchini KG.

Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, State University of Campinas, 13081-970 Campinas, Sao Paulo; and Department of Pathology, Triangulo Mineiro School of Medicine, 38025-440 Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

To investigate the effects of colchicine on left ventricular (LV) function and hypertrophy (LVH) of rats subjected to constriction of transverse aorta (TAoC), we evaluated SO (sham operated, vehicle; n = 25), SO-T (sham operated, colchicine 0.4 mg/kg body wt ip daily; n = 38), TAoC (vehicle; n = 37), and TAoC-T (TAoC, colchicine; n = 34) on the 2nd, 6th, and 15th day after surgery. Colchicine attenuated LVH of TAoC-T compared with TAoC rats, as evaluated by ratio between LV mass (LV(M)) and right ventricular mass, LV wall thickness, and average diameter of cardiac myocytes. Systolic gradient across TAoC ( approximately 45 mmHg), LV systolic pressure, LV end-diastolic pressure, and rate of LV pressure increase (+dP/dt) were comparable in TAoC-T and TAoC rats. However, the baseline and increases of LV systolic pressure-to-LV(M) and +dP/dt-to-LV(M) ratios induced by phenylephrine infusion were greater in TAoC-T and SO-T compared with SO rats. Baseline and increases of +dP/dt-to-LV(M) ratio were reduced in TAoC compared with SO rats. TAoC rats increased polymerized fraction of tubulin compared with SO, SO-T, and TAoC-T rats. Our results indicate that colchicine treatment reduced LVH to pressure overload but preserved LV function.


Online pharmacy ref source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12482768&dopt=Abstract colchicine [PubMed - in process]



Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2002 Nov;54(3):211-6.
Effects of thiocolchicine on axonal cytoskeleton of the rat peroneus nerve.

Ferri P, Bruno C, Cecchini T, Ciaroni S, Ambrogini P, Guidi L, Cuppini R, Bombardelli E, Morazzoni P, Riva A, Del Grande P.

Institute of Morphological Sciences, University of Urbino, Urbino, Italy. p.ferrniurb.it

Thiocolchicine is a colchicine-derivative used in the therapy of some diseases and extensively studied in the field of oncological research as antimitotic agent. Here we studied the activity of thiocolchicine on the cytoskeleton of the peroneus nerve, performing a histological and ultrastructural analysis. We observed a decrease in mean myelinated fiber area in thiocolchicine-treated rats in comparison to controls; this was due to a decrease in mean axoplasm area, while myelin thickness was constant. In the ultrastructural analysis a decrease in microtubule density and an increase in neurofilaments were found; moreover, the myelinated fibers seemed to be more affected in comparison to the unmyelinated axons. These findings are in agreement with the capability of binding to microtubule skeleton shared by all the colchicinoids.


Online pharmacy ref source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12484558&dopt=Abstract colchicine



Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2002 Aug;22(4):431-44.
Dexamethasone attenuates by colchicine induced Fos expression in the rat deep cerebellar and vestibular nuclei.

Pirnik Z, Kiss A.

Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Vlarska str. 3, 833 06 Bratislava, Slovakia.

1. The intent of the present study was to find out whether dexamethasone pretreatment may affect the induction of Fos protein in cell nuclei of the cerebellar vestibular neuronal complex (CVNC) elicited by central administration of colchicine. Specifically, the rate of the dexamethasone-sensitive cell population was analyzed and compared at different levels of the CVNC using a light microscopic avidin-biotin peroxidase immunohistochemistry. 2. Male Wistar rats were pretreated with dexamethasone 3 days prior (2.5 mg/kg/day, s.c.) and 24 h after an intracerebroventricular delivery of colchicine (60 microg/10 microL). Animals were sacrificed 48 h after colchicine treatment by a transcardial perfusion with fixative. 3. Dexamethasone in itself had no effect on the activity of cells of the CVNC. However, in colchicine treated animals, which exhibited a large number of Fos-positive cells over the entire CVNC, the dexamethasone elicited a substantial reduction in the number of the Fos-immunoreactive cells over the CVNC. Distinct dexamethasone dependent reduction (50-90%) of Fos-immunoreactivity was observed in each of the deep cerebellar nuclei. On the other hand, less number of dexamethasone-sensitive cells were recognized in the vestibular structures. From these, maximal Fos-inhibition by dexamethasone was recognized in the medial vestibular nucleus, however, even in this case the number of suppressed cells did not exceed 50%. 4. The results provide for the first time evidence about the dexamethasone dependent reduction of Fos-immunoreactivity in the cells of the CVNC in response to stimulation elicited by colchicine. The data also indicate that the glucocorticoids might be involved in the regulation of some functions of the CVNC under stress conditions.


Online pharmacy ref source: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12507392&dopt=Abstract colchicine