Cell sensitivity, non-linearity and inverse effects

Abstract

It has been claimed that the homeopathic principle of 'similarity' (or 'similia') and the use of individualized remedies in extremely low doses conflicts with scientific laws, but this opinion can be disputed on the basis of recent scientific advances. Several mechanisms to explain the responsiveness of cells to ultra-low doses and the similarity as inversion of drug effects, have again been suggested in the framework of hormesis and modern paradoxical pharmacology. Low doses or high dilutions of a drug interact only with the enhanced sensitivities of regulatory systems, functioning as minute harmful stimuli to trigger specific compensatory healing reactions. Here we review hypotheses about homeopathic drug action at cellular and molecular levels, and present a new conceptual model of the principle of similarity based on allosteric drug action. While many common drugs act through orthostatic chemical interactions aimed at blocking undesired activities of enzymes or receptors, allosteric interactions are associated with dynamic conformational changes and functional transitions in target proteins, which enhance or inhibit specific cellular actions in normal or disease states. The concept of allostery and the way it controls physiological activities can be broadened to include diluted/dynamized compounds, and may constitute a working hypothesis for the study of molecular mechanisms underlying the inversion of drug effects.

Arnica montana Stimulates Extracellular Matrix Gene Expression in a Macrophage Cell Line Differentiated to Wound-Healing Phenotype

“…On the basis of all the evidence available, the gene regulatory hypothesis originally proposed by Khuda-Bukhsh [70] offers an acceptable logical explanation of the molecular mechanism involved in the biological action of diluted homeopathic remedies in living organisms—whether plants or animals [71]. In experiments conducted in microbiological models ultradiluted Arsenicum 30c or Arnica m .…”

The Spatial Homeostasis Hypothesis

“…Since the 1970s, a large body of experimental work has been amassed, including work carried out in Russia [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], which shows that high dilutions no longer containing molecules of the original substance are able to cause a physiological reaction based on molecular-level effects. A number of properties commonly attributed to "high dilutions" have been discovered [8].…”

Fibronectin Gene Up-regulation by Arnica montana in Human Macrophages: Validation by Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

“…32 Anti-tumour homeopathic medicines induce expression changes in the whole genome of cancer cells. 33 These and other findings, reviewed elsewhere, [34][35][36][37][38][39] support the hypothesis that highly diluted homeopathic medicines are able to turn some important genes on or off, initiating a cascade of gene actions to correct the gene expression changes that produced the disorder or disease.…”