Crocus Colchicum autumnale

The active principle of the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), colchicine (48), is one of the very few drugs that have remained in reputable medical use since ancient times. This drug was the only useful treatment available for the excruciating pain associated with crystallization of uric acid in the joints characteristic of gout until the advent of allopurinol. Although the precise mechanism by which colchicine gives this dramatic relief remains undefined, the antimitotic activity of this agent is... 

YAMADA M, KOBAYASHi Y, FURUOKA H, MATSUIT (2000) Comparison of enterotoxicity between autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale L.) and colchicine in the guinea pig and mouse enterotoxicity in the guinea pig differs from that in the mouse. . 1 Vet Med Sci. 62 809-13. 

Although NSAIDs are now the first-line drugs for acute gout, colchicine was the primary treatment for many years. Colchicine is an alkaloid isolated from the autumn crocus, Colchicum autumnale. Its structure is shown in Figure 36-6. 

Colchicine is a poisonous tricyclic tropane alkaloid from the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) and gloriosa lily (Gloriosa superba). This alkaloid is a potent spindle fiber poison, preventing tubulin polymerization.25 Colchicine has been used as an effective anti-inflammatory drug in the treatment of gout and chronic myelocytic leukemia, but therapeutic effects are attainable at toxic or near toxic dosages. For this reason, colchicine and its analogs are primarily used as biochemical tools in the mechanistic study of new mitotic inhibitors. 

Colchicine is an alkaloid isolated from the autumn crocus, Colchicum autumnale. Its structure is shown in Figure 36-6. 

Autumn crocus Colchicum autumnale GI toxicity, vomiting, neurologic toxicity, kidney failure... 

Ricinus communis (castor oii piant) Euphorbiaceae (spurge) Autumn crocus Colchicum autumnale... 

This mode of action is not unique since the natural product colchicine, from the autumn crocus Colchicum autumnale (once used as a treatment for gout), also binds to tubulin and disrupts microtubule assembly. It was never seriously considered as an anti-cancer drug owing to its low therapeutic index that is, the dose required to produce clinical benefit was not much greater than the dose causing serious adverse effects or even death. A third plant product with similar biological properties, podophyllotoxin from the American Mayapple, provided the stimulus for research that led to the discovery of another excellent anti-cancer drug - etoposide. 

All garden enthusiasts know about the nice autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), which flowers in late autumn. It is not difficult to understand that this very conspicuous plant profits by containing a strong poison that protects it from pathogens and herbivores. It contains colchicine, which is very toxic and has a complicated structure. The substance is well known to plant breeders because it is used to double the number of chromosomes artificially in plants. A synthetic benzimidazole derivative, l-methyl-3-dode-cylbenzimidazolium chloride, was developed in 1960 as a curative fungicide against apple scab. Thiabendazole, another synthetic benzimidazole derivative, has been used as an anthelmintic since 1962. 

Also mentioned in the aforecited book are colchicine and colchidnamide, derived from the common autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), also called meadow saffron. (Colchicine, incidentally, is used in plant gaieties to artificially produce mutations.) The notable use cited is against breast cancer, but gout and arthritis also yield to treatment. It is emphasized that both these alkaloids are potent, and their use requires expert medical supervision. Another plant mentioned is cro-talaria (Crotalaria spectabilis), from which a toxic alkaloid called monocrotaline may be obtained. This substance also has antitumor properties, but acts against the liver. 

Astragalns Astragalus membranaceus, family Fabaceae) Antnmn crocus Colchicum autumnale, family Liliaceae)... 

Figure 7 Rosmarinic acid (44) found, for example, in basil Ocimum basilicum) and colchicine (45) from autumn crocus Colchicum autumnale). Photographs by Daniel G. Vassao and Laurence B. Davin, Washington State University.

Colchicine occurs as the major alkaloid of the autumn crocus, Colchicum autumnale and the African climbing Lily, GloriosasuperbaLinn., (Family Liliaceae). 

At the end of the 1930s, with the alkaloid colchicine [303] from the autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale, also known as the meadow safifon or naked lady) the first natural product was discovered, which attacks the spindle apparatus. Whereas colchicine and the Vinca alkaloids interfere with the polymerisation of tubulins, taxanes and epothilone inhibit their depolymerisation. 

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