ABSTRACT
Colchicum autumnale is a bulbous plant in the Colchicaceae family, with an ancient history. It is the source of a modern medicine called colchicine, a powerful anti-inflammatory drug used to treat acute attacks of gout, and a range of uncommon conditions. The active ingredient of Colchicum, the chemical called colchicine, was identified in Paris in 1820 by the chemists Pelletier and Caventou who also isolated and identified quinine the same year. By then, the use of Colchicum for gout had become popularised by physicians in Vienna, and once the active ingredient was known, colchicine became the standard treatment for acute gout until the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs started to replace it for most patients from the early 1970s onwards. Demecolcine (Colcemid), is another, less toxic derivative acting on microtubule function. It also arrests cell division in metaphase and has been used to improve the results of cancer radiotherapy by synchronising tumour cells at metaphase, the radiosensitive stage of the cell cycle.
