IntroductionThis study was designed to investigate the putative anxiolytic-like activity of ultra-low doses of Gelsemium sempervirens (G. sempervirens), produced according to the homeopathic pharmacopeia.MethodsFive different centesimal (C) dilutions of G. sempervirens (4C, 5C, 7C, 9C and 30C), the drug buspirone (5 mg/kg) and solvent vehicle were delivered intraperitoneally to groups of ICR-CD1 mice over a period of 9 days. The behavioral effects were assessed in the open-field (OF) and light–dark (LD) tests in blind and randomized fashion.ResultsMost G. sempervirens dilutions did not affect the total distance traveled in the OF (only the 5C had an almost significant stimulatory effect on this parameter), indicating that the medicine caused no sedation effects or unspecific changes in locomotor activity. In the same test, buspirone induced a slight but statistically significant decrease in locomotion. G. sempervirens showed little stimulatory activity on the time spent and distance traveled in the central zone of the OF, but this effect was not statistically significant. In the LD test, G. sempervirens increased the % time spent in the light compartment, an indicator of anxiolytic-like activity, with a statistically significant effect using the 5C, 9C and 30C dilutions. These effects were comparable to those of buspirone. The number of transitions between the compartments of the LD test markedly increased with G. sempervirens 5C, 9C and 30C dilutions.ConclusionThe overall pattern of results provides evidence that G. sempervirens acts on the emotional reactivity of mice, and that its anxiolytic-like effects are apparent, with a non-linear relationship, even at high dilutions.

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Coeliac disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the small intestinal mucosa. Scientific evidence supports a role of the gut microbiota in chronic inflammatory disorders; yet information is not specifically available for CD. In this study, a comparative denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of faecal samples from coeliac children and age-matched controls was carried out. The diversity of the faecal microbiota was significantly higher in coeliac children than in healthy controls. The presence of the species Lactobacillus curvatus, Leuconostoc mesenteroides and Leuconostoc carnosum was characteristic of coeliac patients, while that of the Lactobacillus casei group was characteristic of healthy controls. The Bifidobacterium population showed a significantly higher species diversity in healthy children than in coeliacs. In healthy children, this population was characterized by the presence of Bifidobacterium adolescentis. Overall, the results highlighted the need for further characterization of the microbiota in coeliac patients, and suggested a potential role of probiotics and/or prebiotics in restoring their gut microbial balance.

Several lines of evidence suggest that homeopathic high dilutions (HDs) can effectively have a pharmacological action, and so cannot be considered merely placebos. However, until now there has been no unified explanation for these observations within the dominant paradigm of the dose-response effect. Here the possible scenarios for the physicochemical nature of HDs are reviewed. A number of theoretical and experimental approaches, including quantum physics, conductometric and spectroscopic measurements, thermoluminescence, and model simulations investigated the peculiar features of diluted/succussed solutions. The heterogeneous composition of water could be affected by interactive phenomena such as coherence, epitaxy and formation of colloidal nanobubbles containing gaseous inclusions of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, silica and, possibly, the original material of the remedy. It is likely that the molecules of active substance act as nucleation centres, amplifying the formation of supramolecular structures and imparting order to the solvent. Three major models for how this happens are currently being investigated: the water clusters or clathrates, the coherent domains postulated by quantum electrodynamics, and the formation of nanoparticles from the original solute plus solvent components. Other theoretical approaches based on quantum entanglement and on fractal-type self-organization of water clusters are more speculative and hypothetical. The problem of the physicochemical nature of HDs is still far from to be clarified but current evidence strongly supports the notion that the structuring of water and its solutes at the nanoscale can play a key role.

BackgroundGelsemium sempervirens L. (Gelsemium s.) is a traditional medicinal plant, employed as an anxiolytic at ultra-low doses and animal models recently confirmed this activity. However the mechanisms by which it might operate on the nervous system are largely unknown. This work investigates the gene expression of a human neurocyte cell line treated with increasing dilutions of Gelsemium s. extract.MethodsStarting from the crude extract, six 100 × (centesimal, c) dilutions of Gelsemium s. (2c, 3c, 4c, 5c, 9c and 30c) were prepared according to the French homeopathic pharmacopoeia. Human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells were exposed for 24 h to test dilutions, and their transcriptome compared by microarray to that of cells treated with control vehicle solutions.ResultsExposure to the Gelsemium s. 2c dilution (the highest dose employed, corresponding to a gelsemine concentration of 6.5 × 10-9 M) significantly changed the expression of 56 genes, of which 49 were down-regulated and 7 were overexpressed. Several of the down-regulated genes belonged to G-protein coupled receptor signaling pathways, calcium homeostasis, inflammatory response and neuropeptide receptors. Fisher exact test, applied to the group of 49 genes down-regulated by Gelsemium s. 2c, showed that the direction of effects was significantly maintained across the treatment with high homeopathic dilutions, even though the size of the differences was distributed in a small range.ConclusionsThe study shows that Gelsemium s., a medicinal plant used in traditional remedies and homeopathy, modulates a series of genes involved in neuronal function. A small, but statistically significant, response was detected even to very low doses/high dilutions (up to 30c), indicating that the human neurocyte genome is extremely sensitive to this regulation.

The pharmacodynamics aspects of homeopathic remedies are appraised by laboratory studies on the biological effects at various levels (cellular, molecular and systemic). The major question is how these medicines may work in the body. The possible answers concern the identification of biological targets, the means of drug-receptor interactions, the mechanisms of signal transmission and amplification, and the models of inversion of effects according to the traditional 'simile' rule. These problems are handled by two experimental and theoretical lines, according to the doses or dilutions considered (low-medium versus high dilutions). Homeopathic formulations in low-medium dilutions, containing molecules in the range of ultra-low doses, exploit the extreme sensitivity of biological systems to exogenous and endogenous signals. Their effects are interpreted in the framework of hormesis theories and paradoxical pharmacology. The hypotheses regarding the action mechanisms of highly diluted/dynamized solutions (beyond Avogadro-Loschmidt limit) variously invoke sensitivity to bioelectromagnetic information, participation of water chains in signalling, and regulation of bifurcation points of systemic networks. High-dilution pharmacology is emerging as a pioneering subject in the domain of nanomedicine and is providing greater plausibility to the puzzling claims of homeopathy.

The human vagina is a complex and dynamic ecosystem containing an abundance of microorganisms. In women of childbearing age, this system is dominated by Lactobacillus spp. In the present work, seventeen newly isolated vaginal strains were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing and were investigated for their antimicrobial properties. Twelve of the isolated Lactobacillus strains showed activity against one or more microorganisms. Six and five of them produced substances that inhibited the growth of two different Klebsiella strains and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Two lactobacilli strains were active against an Escherichia coli strain, one isolate was active against an Enterococus faecalis strain and another lactobacilli strain showed antimicrobial activity against a Candida parapsilosis strain. The nature of the active compounds was additionally studied, and the presence of bacteriocin-like substances was proved. The genes related to the bacteriocin production in three of the newly isolated strains were identified and sequenced. The presence of gassericin A operon in the genome of the species Lactobacillus crispatus was described for the first time. The presence of antimicrobial activity contributes to their possible use as potential probiotic strains after further research.

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