Basic research
The mechanism of action of homeopathy has been the subject of basic research experiments carried out by biologists, physicists and chemists. Several groups in physics, biology and immunology have shown consistent effect of high dilutions.
Basic science research in homeopathy has been in two main areas:
(1) in-vitro or in-vivo biological models of the action of ultra-molecular dilutions and their potential mechanisms of action, including the Similarity principle (the concept of treating like with like);
(2) physical research on ultra-molecular dilutions.
Although biomedical research indicates that very low concentrations, as low as 10^-22 M, can be biologically active (Eskinazi) and concentrations from 10^-6 to 10^-22 M lie in the range of homeopathic dilutions used in practice – there is overlap of active concentrations used in conventional biomedicine and homeopathy –, the main cause of scientific scepticism surrounding homeopathy is its use of very high dilutions, including 'ultra-molecular dilutions' that are diluted beyond the point at which any molecule of the starting substance is present.
[Eskinazi D (1999). Homeopathy re-revisited – is homeopathy compatible with biomedical observations? Archives of Internal Medicine, 159;1981–1986]
The Homeopathy Basic Research Experiments (‘HomBRex’) Database, a comprehensive database of basic research in homeopathy, contains information on experiments on biological systems in-vivo and in-vitro, in healthy or diseased states, ranging from the intact organism to the subcellular level, with measures of effect ranging from viability to molecular processes; and research on physico-chemical effects of serial dilution and succussion (potentization). By the end of October 2009 it contained more than 1427 experiments in more than 1081 original articles, including 1284 biological studies.
About 90 researchers from different universities and institutes in Europe are working in this domain and are members of the GIRI = Groupe Internationale de Recherches Infinitisimales = International group of researchers studying the effects of serially agitated high dilutions.
Some of the peer-reviewed literature in basic science research is listed here.
