Experimental and clinical study on the efficacy of colchicine in rheumatoid arthritis

ABSTRACT

The effect of colchicine on arthritis induced by Freund's complete adjuvant in rats was studied. 50 micro g/kg colchicine orally administered twice daily for 14 days starting from 2 days before the injection of the mycobacterium adjuvant was found to cause a significant retardation of development of arthritis in rats. 75 micro g/kg colchicine orally administered for 12 days to rats with established arthritis caused a significant decrease of the dorsoplanter thickness of the rat paw. On the other hand, oral administration of colchicine 25 micro g/kg daily to rheumatoid patients in actual remission caused some protection against deterioration as indicated by the persistance of the remmissive parameters. This means that further studies using higher concentrations of colchicine are warranted