Limb regeneration blastema cells in the adult newt, Notophthalmus viridescens, give aberrant response to colchicine

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the effect of colchicine on the mitotic index (number of mitotic figures per 1000 cells) in the newt limb regeneration blastema. Colchicine doses from 0.1 to 1000 μg per gram body weight and treatment durations from 2 to 72 h were used to determine the dose of colchicine and treatment period resulting in optimum metaphase arrest. A preliminary experiment demonstrated that there was no circadian rhythm of mitosis in the newt limb regeneration blastema. A dose of 5 μg colchicine per gram body weight was found to give the maximum mitotic index; both higher and lower doses had less effect. Very high doses of colchicine resulted in a mitotic index the same as that of the controls. The mitotic index increased with increasing treatment time up to 36 h, after which there was no further increase. In other newt tissues such as duodenal mucosa and liver, a more typical dose–response relationship was observed in that increased colchicine dose led to increased mitotic indices up to the level of lethal doses of colchicine.