Mechanism of action of homoeopathic medicines Recent findings and hypotheses 1: Physicochemical mechanisms

Abstract

Introduction Central to the science of homoeopathy is the homoeopathic medicine which is defined, in the context of the pharmacopoeia, by the method of preparation, 'the Hahnemannian method using serial dilution'. 1 Recent biological and clinical experiments relating to homoeopathic medicines have led to rapidly growing support for the theory linking specific pharmacological action to homoeopathic medicines; this applies also to ultramolecular dilutions. 2-5 To improve our understanding of how these medicines have objective effects on living organisms when prescribed on the basis of similarity we will consider the various ways they may work, differentiating mechanisms relative to t he nature of biological information present in high dilutions; here it will be necessary to differentiate facts clearly f rom hypotheses; the specific action of homoeopathic medicines which allows us to distinguish psychosomatic aspects of the pharmacology of homoeopathic medicines from psychosomat ic e f fec t s due to the the rapeu t ic approach or to the doctor-patient relationship. A separate description is given of the physiochemical processes relating to the nature of the information contained in high dilutions and the biological action which influences the local and general action of homoeopathic medicines. In view of the complexity of the findings relating to physicochemical processes in high dilutions, it is necessary to distinguish the analysis of experimental results, including the study of factors which modify the activity of high dilutions and the direct spectroscopic study of high dilutions, from the numerous hypotheses published on the subject.