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.
Keywords
High dilutions - Homeopathic potencies - Hormesis - Nanopharmacology - Biophysics
- Systems biology - Fractals - Water clusters - Water coherence domains
