For example, calcium stones might be caused by anything from a parathyroid gland problem to too much vitamin D to some forms of cancer to a genetic predisposition. It is used in medicine and to induce chromsome doubling in plants. It is very poisonous. It dissolves the spindles connecting the chromosomes, resulting in a cell with double the original number of chromosomes. It is used to produce polyploid plants.
Colchicine disrupts the spindle apparatus.
Colchicine treatment results in retention of most of the cells in metaphase, and if cells are treated for an extended time, divisions of the chromosomes continue without divisions of the cell, so polyploids develop. The fundamental action of colchicine seems to be the prevention of the proper assembly of protein molecules into the microtubules of the cytoskeleton and mitotic spindle. Gout symptoms result from the phagocytic action of leucocytes on urate crystals deposited in the joints. The reference cautions against its use during pregnancy because of its effect of stopping mitosis. Colchicine has been reported to adversely affect spermatogenesis in animals.