Nuclear Abnormalities Resulting from Inhibition of Mitosis by Colchicine and other Substances

Abstract

Attention has been called, during the past few years, to the striking phenomenon of mitotic inhibition which occurs as a result of injecting certain substances into living animals and tissue cultures. The most striking effects of this sort occur, as originally described by Dustin (1), following treatment with sodium cacodylate and with the alkaloid colchicine. After the administration of these substances, large numbers of abnormal mitotic figures appear in all tissues, both normal and malignant, in which cell divisions normally occur in appreciable numbers. There is general agreement that these abnormal figures are characterized in all cases by the absence of the spindle, and Ludford (2) has attributed the suspension of division to the failure of that mechanism of which the spindle is the visible attribute.