Colchicine is an FDA-approved medicine that has been used for many years to prevent and treat gout flares as well as familial mediterranean fever. It is also used off-label to treat pericarditis, calcium pyrophosphate illness, and Behçet’s syndrome. There are additional studies on the use of colchicine, which is accepted as the standard treatment for pericarditis in adults, post-pericardiotomy syndrome, post-operative and post-ablation atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disorders, prior to percutaneous coronary procedures, and myocarditis. Colchicine appears to be a promising oral cardiovascular treatment targeting the inflammatory axis, owing to its low cost and moderate side-effect profile. Our aim is to emphasise that colchicine treatment, which has a strong and effective anti-inflammatory effect profile, should be kept in mind in addition to conventional treatment in childhood myocarditis.

Castor is a prime industrial crop belonging to a monotypic genus and its genetic improvement depends on creating desired variability in the primary gene pool. This study reports the development of tetraploid castor plants through colchicine treatment. Seeds of three castor genotypes were soaked in aqueous solutions of colchicine with variable concentrations, and the LD50 value was determined. Of 1010 treated field-raised plants, three were identified as potential polyploids based on increases in a guard cell size and reductions in the number of stomata. The putative polyploid plants were selfed and the progeny were subjected to meiotic analysis. All the progeny were found to be tetraploid. The pairing of chromosomes was abnormal with univalent to octavalent configurations during meiosis-I, but the later parts of meiosis were normal. Seasonal variations in pollen fertility indicated the possible role of temperature-sensitive male sterility in causing the sterility in tetraploid plants. The tetraploid plants were phenotypically comparable with their diploid counterparts, but produced substantially bigger seeds. Thus, these tetraploid plants are valuable resources for basic and applied research in castor.

Mitotic disrupters from higher plants have been studied for their effects on animal cells, but their effects on plant cells have been studied less. The plant-derived compounds have counterparts among herbicides with respect to cellular effects and, in some cases, mode of action. Cellular effects in common are arrested prometaphases (colchicine, dinitroanilines), multipolar divisions (Vinca alkaloids, carbamates), and production of binucleate cells (caffeine, dichlobenil). The potential of these natural compounds, either directly or as the basis of new chemistries for herbicides, has remained largely untapped.

Introduction: Pericarditis is a common disease associated with significant morbidity. In adults with pericarditis, we sought to determine if colchicine, in addition to standard therapies, could reduce the incidence of pericarditis recurrence, shorten the duration of symptoms and minimize adverse effects associated with other therapies. Methods: We followed PRISMA guidelines. We performed an electronic search (February 2015) through MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Google scholar. Online trial registries were searched and reference lists were handed searched. Our search strategy had no limitations on study design, outcome of interest, hypothesis, language, dates or publication status. Inclusion criteria for selected manuscripts were: RCTs; adults; outpatient therapy; and idiopathic/viral/autoimmune pericarditis etiology. Cohen's unweighted kappa for inter-observer agreement was calculated. Data was extracted using a standardized data collection tool. Following assessment of homogeneity between studies, we performed a meta-analysis using (fixed or random) effect models and report odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We assessed bias using GRADE. Results: We screened 647 titles/abstracts, and selected 34 manuscripts for full review (kappa 0.86, CI 0.76-0.96). 7 manuscripts met all inclusion criteria comprising 1,275 patients. We obtained the following OR with 95% CI: 1) For the overall incidence of recurrence of pericarditis (OR 0.32; CI 0.24-0.42); 2) For recurrent pericarditis at 18-months (OR 0.32; CI 0.23-0.44); 3) For event-free of recurrent pericarditis at 18-months follow-up (OR 3.40; CI 2.46-4.70); 4) For persistent symptoms at 72 hours (OR 0.29; CI 0.21-0.41); and 5) For the overall adverse events rate (OR 1.27; Cl 0.84-1.92). Conclusion: Colchicine reduces the number of pericarditis recurrences and the duration of symptoms in patients with recurrent or acute pericarditis. Unless there are contraindications to its use, colchicine should be prescribed in all cases of uncomplicated pericarditis, along with standard therapy.

Microtubules of cardiac myocytes depolymerize after a hypoxic insult or treatment with colchicine. However, little attention has been paid to quantifying changes in microtubule distribution when using fluorescent images. We converted fluorescence images of labeled microtubules in H9C2 cardiac myocytes to grayscale images, then filtered the images to remove any noise, and used grayscale histograms to quantify features of the images. The results show that parameters such as the mean, variance, skewness, kurtosis, energy, and entropy can be used to quantitatively describe the distribution of microtubules in cells. Quantitative characteristics of microtubule distribution were similar after culturing cells under hypoxic conditions or after treatment with colchicine. These results parallel those described for neonatal rat cardiac myocytes following ischemia and hypoxia. In addition, we provide a method for internal segmentation of the cells, which revealed that microtubular depolymerization was more evident near the cell membrane following hypoxia or colchicine treatment.

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. Despite toxicologic management and supportive care, admission to the intensive care unit was required for clinical deterioration and symptom management. Shock and multiorgan failure resulted, with death occurring 52 hours postingestion. Although the toxic effects of colchicine are well documented, mortality caused by low doses is relatively uncommon. Management of toxicity consists of early diagnosis, decontamination, and supportive measures. Toxicity may be enhanced by drug interactions inhibiting metabolic enzymes or poor excretion due to renal failure. In this case, the ingestion of a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug and the associated volume depletion from the gastrointestinal effects of colchicine may have contributed to renal dysfunction, exacerbating the toxicity of colchicine. This ingestion of a relatively small dose of colchicine led to severe toxicity. Treatment options for colchicine toxicity are limited.

The effect of the microtubule inhibitors coichicine (1×10−3 M) and tubulozole-C(1×10−6 M) on the ultrastructure of adult Fasciola hepatica has been determined in vitro by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), using both intact flukes and tissue-slice material. With colchicine treatment, the apical membrane of the tegument became increasingly convoluted and blebbed, while accumulations of T1 secretory bodies occurred in the basal region of the syncytium, leading to progressively fewer secretory bodies in the syncytium. In the tegumental cells there were distinct accumulations of T1 secretory bodies around the Golgi complexes, which remained active for up to 12 h incubation. Tubulozole-treated flukes showed more severe effects, with initial accumulations of secretory bodies, both at the tegumental apex and base. This was followed in the later time-periods by the sloughing of the tegumental syncytium. In the underlying tegumental cells, the granular endoplasmic reticulum (GER) cisternae were swollen and disrupted, becoming concentrated around the nucleus. The Golgi complexes were dispersed to the periphery of the cells and gradually disappeared from the cytoplasm. After treatment with both drugs, the cell population in the vitelline follicles was altered, with an abnormally large proportion of stem cells and relatively few intermediate type I cells. The nurse cell cytoplasm became fragmented and was no longer in contact with the vitelline cells, while the shell globule clusters within the intermediate type 2 and mature cells were loosely packed. In the mature vitelline cells, ‘yolk’ globules and glycogen deposits became fewer than normal and lipid droplets were observed. The results are discussed in relation to the different modes of action of the two drugs and potential significance of this to anthelmintic (benzimidazole) therapy.

Gloriosa superba L. is a highly valued indigenous medicinal plant. It is available throughout India with noticeable variations in morphology and colchicine content. In the present study, morphological, phytochemical, cytological and molecular data are employed to screen the polymorphism, if present, in five different populations of G. superba L. Based on gross morphological traits, the plants can be grouped into two clusters: Amtala (AM) and Baruipur (BR) plants belonging to one cluster, and Siliguri (SG), Darjeeling (DJ) and Sikkim (SK) plants belonging to the other. Colchicine content of the tubers ranged from 0.06% in AM plants to 0.37% in BR plants. Cytological analysis revealed that the SK plants showed 44 chromosomes, i.e. tetraploid status, whereas the other four were diploid. Assessment of the karyomorphology of the four diploid populations indicated a close similarity between AM and BR plants, whereas the SG plants exhibited slightly different karyomorphology and lacked sm-type chromosomes. Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis revealed 76% polymorphism among the populations. Cluster analysis using RAPD resulted in three main cluster groups; BR and SG plants clustered together indicating that they are most closely related when compared with other populations.

Introduction. The worldwide production of banana and plantain, which is estimated to 106 Mt·year–1, relies on a narrow genetic basis. Thus, banana production is fragile regarding emergent diseases, and creation of new varieties of banana stands out as a real necessity for its sustainability. In banana, various improvement strategies aim to create triploid hybrids. The objective of this report is to present a simple in vitro methodology to induce stable tetraploid plants by colchicine treatment, usable as parent for obtaining triploid varieties. Materials and methods. Twenty-one diploid M. acuminata clones and three interspecific M. acuminata / M. balbisiana diploid clones were treated as proliferating culture in liquid medium with 1.25 mM of colchicine for 48 h. Plant screening has been performed by morphological identification in greenhouse, chromosome counts on root tips and flow cytometry on leave blades on vitroplants using propidium iodide staining. Results. Chromosome counts led to distinguish diploid and tetraploid plants but did not afford to detect chimeras. Flow cytometry allowed an early screening of a larger number of plants leading to detect rapidly chimerical plants. It was observed that some stable 2x / 4x cytochimeras are periclinal. Tetraploid clones were obtained with all diploid genotypes. General behaviour of tetraploids in the field was globally weaker than the corresponding diploids. Nevertheless, all the doubled-diploids flowered and crossed with diploid plants to obtain triploid progenies. Conclusion. This study has clearly shown that induction of stable doubled-diploid plants can be obtained from a wide range of genetically different bananas. These results open the way to the systematic use of doubled-diploids by banana breeding programs for the release of enhanced triploid varieties.

Plasmodium falciparum merozoites have an array of 2–3 subpellicular microtubules, designated f-MAST. We have previously shown that colchicine inhibits merozoite invasion of erythrocytes, indicating a microtubular involvement in this process. Colchicine inhibition of invasion was reduced by the Taxol®-stabilization of merozoite microtubules prior to colchicine exposure. Immunofluorescence assays showed that the number and length of f-MASTs were reduced in colchicine-treated merozoites, confirming that microtubules were the target of colchicine inhibition. The dinitroaniline drugs, trifluralin and pendimethalin, were shown by immunofluorescence to depolymerize the f-MAST and both drugs were inhibitory in invasion assays. These results demonstrate that the integrity of the f-MAST is important for successful invasion. Fluorescence imaging demonstrated the alignment of mitochondria to f-MAST, suggesting that mitochondrial transport might be perturbed in merozoites with disorganized f-MAST. Depolymerizing mt in late-stage schizonts did not affect the allocation of mitochondria to merozoites.

Colchicine, a drug which poisons the polymerization of microtubules, was assayed for effects on the invasion of Plasmodium falciparum merozoites into red cells in order to investigate if merozoite microtubules have a function in invasion. Culture conditions and concentrations of colchicine were established where the maturation and rupture of schizonts was unaffected by the drug. This was judged first by light microscopy, including morphology and counts of nuclear particle numbers, then by ultrastructural studies which excluded deranged organellogenesis as a cause of merozoite failure, and finally by diachronic cultures in which both recruitment and loss of schizonts could be counted. Specific invasion inhibition was seen when 10 μM–1 mM colchicine was present. Red cells pre-incubated in colchicine and then washed showed no reduction in their extent of invasion, and neither red cell lysis, sphering nor blebbing were apparent. We conclude that intact microtubules are necessary for successful merozoite function.