EditorialBiological models of homeopathy
Section snippets
Rodent research
Wiegant, and Jürgen Clausen and collaborators in their article analysing the rat-based experiments indexed in the HomBRex database, draw attention to the strong analogy between non-ultramolecular homeopathy and the recent concept of ‘postconditioning hormesis’ which refers to a small stimulus exerting a beneficial effect after a biological system has been exposed to harmful stress of similar nature.
HomBRex is a valuable resource, indexing around 1300 basic research experiments in homeopathy.
Plant models
In contrast we publish 3 papers on plant models from linked teams of authors including Stephan Baumgartner, Lucietta Betti, Lisa Lahnstein and Vera Majewski: systematic reviews of healthy and diseased plant models and experimental work on the homologous effect of ultramolecular Arsenicum album on the growth of wheat seedlings.5, 6 For the two systematic reviews they developed quality scoring systems. They identified 86 studies on healthy plants and 44 on phytopathological models. A number of
Unknown unknowns
Variables which are currently poorly understood are involved. Most experiments which use a range of dilutions show peaks and troughs of effect at different dilutions: the histamine model of Sainte Laudy and Belon, for instance shows a consistent peak at 16c. The results of Lahnstein et al are also puzzling, given the rigour of the controls and statistical analysis in their work.7 There are no current hypotheses to explain either of these observation. Other variables may include ‘ageing effects’
What next?
What can be concluded? Above all that the field is exciting and dynamic: there is a remarkable range of biological models of relevance to homeopathy, with encouraging progress in terms of quality and a growing number of positive findings. And we have not covered all the models in depth: for instance the work of Christian Doutremepuich's group on the effects of dilutions of Aspirin on blood clotting, the subject of several repetitions, is discussed only briefly.
For future developments, there is
References (13)
Mice as a model for homeopathy research
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Assays of homeopathic remedies in rodent behavioural and psychopathological models
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Use of homeopathic preparations in experimental studies with healthy plants
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Use of homeopathic preparations in phytopathological models and in field trials: a critical review
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Isopathic treatment effects of Arsenicum album 45x on wheat seedling growth – further reproduction trials
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Inhibition of basophil activation by histamine: A sensitive and reproducible model for study of biological activity of high dilutions
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2018, Revue d'Homeopathie