Cornigerine, a potent antimitotic colchicum alkaloid of unusual structure

Cornigerine is a natural product analog of colchicine produced by Colchicum cornigerum in which the vicinal 2- and 3-methoxy groups are condensed into a methylenedioxy bridge. This produces a fourth ring and a structure which resembles a hybrid of colchicine, podophyllotoxin, and steganacin. Cornigerine was somewhat more toxic than colchicine with L1210 murine leukemia cells and caused them to accumulate in metaphase arrest. Cornigerine resembled colchicine in its interactions with tubulin in vitro, and it was also somewhat more potent than colchicine in these drug-tubulin interactions. Cornigerine inhibited tubulin polymerization both with and without microtubule-associated proteins, inhibited the binding of radiolabeled colchicine to tubulin, and stimulated tubulin-dependent GTP hydrolysis. Indirect evidence suggested that the binding of cornigerine to tubulin is relatively slow and temperature-dependent, like the binding of colchicine to the protein.