The Efficacy of Ultramolecular Aqueous Dilutions on a Wheat Germination Model as a Function of Heat and Aging-Time

Abstract

This study evaluates the effects of temperature and aging on the efficacy of As2O3 at the 45th decimal potency in a wheat germination model, compared against a control and potentized H2O 45×. Each treatment-temperature combination was tested on seeds (Triticum aestivum L.) of Pandas variety, using six Petri dishes (33 seeds/dish) per trial, performing eight trials. Seeds were pre-treated by poisoning with 0.1% As2O3 solution to reduce germination, to allow a better evaluation of homeopathic treatment effects. The outcome variable was the number of non-germinated seeds after 96 h. Temperature effect was investigated by heating each treatment in a water bath for 30 min (at 20, 40 or 70°C), or for 5 min (at 100°C), and that of aging by dividing experimental data, collected over a period of nearly five months, into two groups: early and late experiments. Results seem to show that the efficacy of As2O3 45× is unaltered at 20 and 40°C, increases at 70°C and decreases at 100°C. As regards aging, a notable difference was found between early trials, with no significant efficacy, and late trials, where As2O3 45× exhibits a repeated significant effect versus control, except at 100°C. A reduction in variability was observed for As2O3 45× at 20°C versus control, confirming the findings of previous work. The main conclusion suggested by this experiment is that the efficacy of As2O3 45× on wheat germination may be influenced by heating degree and seems to have an increasing trend as a function of aging.

Biological effects and physico-chemical properties of extremely diluted aqueous solutions as a function of aging-time

“…We adopted this 'isopathic approach' since, in previous studies, we had observed an 'isopathic sensitization', i.e. a considerable increase of treatment effect when working with stressed seeds (Brizzi et al , 2011. This behavior was confirmed in a recent review regarding the use of homeopathic preparations in experimental studies with abiotically stressed plants (Jäger et al 2011), whereas in healthy plant tests the effects were less pronounced ).…”

“…This stress reduced the germination rate by 15% with respect to the non-stressed control, obtaining a germination rate of ∼80% (Brizzi et al , 2011.…”

“…We focused our attention on seed germination in vitro, applying the same biological pattern employed in previous studies (Brizzi et al 2011): we placed a fixed number of 36 seeds, selected for integrity, on sterilized sand in sterile plastic Petri dishes of 10-cm diameter; each trial consisted of 21 Petri dishes per treatment. At the beginning of each experiment, a standard quantity of treatment (20 ml) was pipetted into each dish, without disturbing the seeds.…”

“…In our previous papers, it was shown that the agingtime of test samples can affect both their biological efficacy (Brizzi et al 2011) and their physico-chemical properties (Elia et al 2006;Elia V, Elia L et al 2008;. The aim of the study described here is to investigate, adopting the aforesaid isopathic model of in vitro wheat germination, whether there is a correlation between the biological effects and physico-chemical variations of EDS as a function of aging-time.…”

“…At very high dilution levels (beyond the Avogadro limit) the probability of the presence of molecules of the original substance is near to zero (Marschollek et al 2010). This aspect represents one of the reasons why the biological effectiveness of EDS is still controversial, although there is emerging evidence for their in vitro activity (Brizzi et al , 2011Belon et al 2004;Witt et al 2007;Frenkel et al 2010;Endler et al 2011) as well as in vivo activity (Bellavite et al 2006;Welles et al 2007;Baumgartner et al 2008;Shah-Rossi et al 2009;Betti et al 2010;Jäger et al 2010;Magnani et al 2010;Wyss et al 2010). Based on physico-chemical measurements, it was hypothesized that the particular preparation technique of EDS could lead to a structural alteration of the aqueous solvent that appears to trigger the formation of molecular aggregates of water molecules (Samal and Geckeler 2001;Elia et al * Corresponding author.…”