Background: Colchicine is a natural alkaloid derived from autumn crocus; it is used in the treatment of gout and in preventing familial Mediterranean fever attacks. It accumulates in many organs such as spleen and may lead to their damage.
Aim: This work aimed to study short and long duration effects of colchicine administration on the structure of the spleen of the adult male albino rat.
Material and Methods: Forty-five adult male albino rats were used in this study, aged from 4-6 months, weighting 150 -180 gm. Rats were equally divided into three groups: Group I: It was further equally subdivided into three subgroups: subgroup IA: Kept as a negative control, subgroup IB: received 1ml of distilled water/day orally for seven days and subgroup IC: received 1ml of distilled water/day orally for 30 days. Group II: received 3mg/Kg body weight/ day of colchicine orally for seven days. Group III: received colchicine as those of group II but for 30 days.
Results: The present work revealed that administration of colchicine for short duration induced mild structural alteration of rat's spleen in the form of reduction in lymphoid follicles size and subcapsular congestion of blood vessels, while, marked structural alteration of rat's spleen was noticed in group III that received colchicine for long duration in the form of loss of distinction between the white and red pulps with nearly unidentifiable lymphoid follicles and marked parenchymal congested blood vessels.
Conclusion: Colchicine administration induced structural alteration of rat's spleen which was mild with short term use and extensive with long term use.