Effect of colchicine on virus-induced fusion of human erythrocytes

Colchicine was found to stimulate the virus-induced fusion of human erythrocytes. Colchicine also stimulated the rate of hemolysis, but had no effect on its final extent, suggesting that the enhanced rate of envelope fusion, i. e. virus to cell, caused by colchicine resulted in the stimulation of cell to cell fusion. The fact that effective doses of colchicine were at millimolar concentrations, together with the absence of microtubules in human erythrocytes, indicates that the target of colchicine action is not this subcellular tubular system. Instead, the peripheral membrane protein, spectrin, may be a likely candidate for the site of colchicine action.