Intermittent Schilling tests and daily 57Co-labeled vitamin B12 administration and analyses of urinary and fecal radioactivity revealed that colchicine given by mouth decreased vitamin B12 absorption in all except one normal subject, and this effect was greatest when colchicine was delivered by tube into the ileum. Gastric mucosa was histologically unchanged, and gastric-juice intrinsic-factor activity was undiminished as shown by bioassay in subjects with pernicious anemia and by in vitro assay. Colchicine in vitro did not prevent vitamin B12 binding to intrinsic factor or binding of this combination to guinea-pig ileal mucosa. Intestinal hypermotility induced by cascara for comparison with colchicine did not alter 57Co-labeled vitamin B12 urinary excretion, but did yield increased fecal excretion. Colchicine appears to induce reversible vitamin B12 malabsorption by altering the function of ileal mucosa.
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Webb et al. (1968) studied this question.
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