An overview of research at University of Kalyani in exploring some basic issues of Homoeopathy

Abstract

Homoeopathy has been confronted with certain major issues such as (i) how is medicinal property of homoeopathic drug transferred to and retained by the vehicle; (ii) how can it act in biological system in the absence of any original drug substance in ultra high diluted remedies? and (iii) plausible mechanism and pathways of biological action including mysteries of 'like cured by likes'. We demonstrated through controlled studies the ability of ultra-highly diluted homoeopathic drugs in rendering protection/repair of cytogenetic damages infl icted by whole-body X-irradiation in mammalian model mice in vivo. We examined cytogenetic damages in arsenic, cadmium, mercury and stannum intoxicated mice and their remediation by homoeopathic drugs derived from agitated ultra-high dilutions of their respective salt, deploying many scientifi c protocols. We made a human trial on effi cacy of Arsenicum album against groundwater arsenic-contaminated victims. We tested effi cacy of some homoeopathic remedies in cancer of mice and thalassemia in human. We produced nano-capsules of homoeopathic mother tinctures and their bioactive components and induced nano-precipitation of silver from silver nitrate by homoeopathic mother tinctures and characterised them for their physicochemical properties and biological action. We studied tissue distribution of nanoparticles, precise mechanism and pathways of their action that involved certain signal proteins and their pathways, both in vivo and in vitro. This approach made a signifi cant contribution towards elucidating the role of drug nanoparticles in inducing ‘memory of water’ and mechanism and pathways of action of homoeopathic remedies through epigenetic modifi cations that supported ‘gene regulatory hypothesis’.