High Dilution Effects: Physical and Biochemical Basis (Handbooks of Behavioral Neurobiology)

Since the subject of high dilution effects is still a subject for debate, this volume provides evidence in support of effects from control clinical studies, clinical records from veteran physicians, controlled experiments on animals and plants, and in vitro tests without any organisms (Chapter II). An overview of the methods for preparing drugs at ultra high dilution is also provided as well as the basic principles of homeopathy, which has been alleviating human suffering through the use of these drugs for several hundred years (Chapter I). Chapter III provides physical basis of high dilutions as evidence from the NMR, IR, UV and fluorescence spectra of those drugs. Since water is used as the diluents media, the structure and dynamics of water polymers in relation to high dilution are discussed in order to facilitate easy comprehension of this physical aspect, the basic principles of spectroscopy are also described. Chapter IV focuses on the mechanism of action of potentized drugs in the living system, discussing the structure of the cell, the plasma membrane, the integral proteins on the membrane, the interaction between these proteins and high dilutions and the manifestations of the therapeutic effects of high dilutions. Some aspects, peculiar to homeopathy, such as the chief miasm psora, and the literalities and time modalities of symptoms and drug action are interpreted from a scientific perspective. Chapter IV ends with a brief discussion on water structures and the origin of life to show the natural evolution of high dilution effects. The book not only helps in understanding the physical basis of high dilutions and their mechanism of action in organisms but provides many new avenues of investigation into this interdisciplinary field of science. Preparation Of High Dilution Of Drugs -- Sources Of Drugs -- Plant Materials -- Animal Substances -- Minerals And Chemicals -- Other Biological Materials -- Proving Of Drugs -- Preparation Of Mother Tinctures -- Potentization Of Drugs -- Succussion -- Trituration -- Conversion Of Solid Potencies Into Liquid Ones -- Preservation Of Remedies And Pharmaceutical Forms -- Evidences For High Dilution Effects -- Clinical Evidences -- Experimental Evidences From Animals -- Biological Effects On Mammals And Birds -- Catalepsy Model -- Oral Route Effective -- Dose Response -- Righting Reflex Model -- Aqueous Ethanol, The Effective Medium -- Biological Effects On Amphibians -- Young Toads -- Adult Toads -- Effects On Chronic Alcoholism -- Ethanol Intake -- Ethanol-induced Neuropathy -- Effects On Parasitic Diseases -- Electrophysiological Studies -- Lateral Hypothalamic Neurons Of Cats -- Medial Frontal Cortex Neurons Of An Awake Rat -- Hypothalamic Neuronal Responses Of Alcoholic Rats To Nux Vomica -- Hypothalamic Neuronal Responses Of Rats On Salty Diet To Natrum Mur -- Effects On Synaptic Transmission -- Experimental Evidences From Plants -- Effect On Parasites And Pathogens Of Plants -- Evidences From In Vitro Tests -- Boyd's In Vitro Experiment And Other Related Experiments -- In Vitro Experiment On Red Blood Cells -- Physical Basis Of Drugs At High Dilutions -- Nmr Spectroscopy -- Nmr Spectra Of Homeopathic Potencies -- Infra-red Spectroscopy -- Ir Spectra Of Homeopathic Potencies -- Fourier Transform Spectroscopy. By Nirmal C. Sukul And Anirban Sukul. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 107-120) And Indexes. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web.