Résumé
The autumn colchicum, also called Colchicum autumnale, is a herbaceous plant. This plant contains a very powerful and important alkaloid and it will be the subject to this thesis. This alkaloid is the colchicine. Even though it shows many virtues, this alkaloid can be responsible of major or even deadly intoxication. Indeed, the colchicum can easily be mistaken for other plants such as the wild garlic which can be safely eaten. Besides, the colchicum is mainly known because of its unfortunate intoxications rather than its extremely interesting antiinflammatory characteristics. The goal of this thesis is to demonstrate that, even though the colchicum might be dangerous, it is tough a real hope for the heart diseases, in particular after a myocardial infarction. The heart diseases represent the first cause of mortality in all industrialized countries. In France, about 120 000 persons suffer from myocardial infarction every year from which 10% die within the hour following the infarction. In facing this major public health problem, the scientists have an interest in the origin of the infarction as well as its emergence to determine the causes. It has recently been shown that the inflammation has an essential role in the myocardial infarction. Hence, by acting on the different inflammatory mechanisms, it should be possible to decrease the infarction risks and also decrease the relapse risks. In the course of this work, the mechanism of action of the colchicum will be studied and also how it can be valuable after a myocardial infarction.