In order to get homeopathy recognised as a scientific medical system, it is essential that we have to address some fundamental questions involved in homeopathy. Most important one among them is, what really happens during the process of potentization.
During trituration of crude drugs, and during early stages of dilution and succussion, individual molecules contained in the drug substance are liberated by breakage of inter-molecular bonds that held them together. By this process,drug molecules get ionized and more reactive, and even insoluble substances are thereby converted to individual molecules or colloidal particles that are soluble in the water-alcohol medium. Triturations and lower dilutions are biologically more active than crude drugs and mother tinctures, due to this conversion into free molecules and colloidal particles.
Potentization is done using water-ethanol mixtures in AZEOTROPIC ratios, which are known to have peculiar supramolecular properties due to extraordinarily strong and stable hydrogen bonds in them. It is now well known that water exists as a “dynamic branched polymer” constituted by minimum 150 molecules at 24 degrees Celsius temperature. These polymer structures are highly stable in water-ethanol mixtures at azeotropic ratio. Drug molecules are subjected to a process of ‘hydration’ when they are dissolved in such a water-alcohol mixture. Hydration takes place by the water-alcohol molecules arranging themselves around independent drug molecules, and forming a supra-molecular network around them through hydrogen bonding. These supra-molecular networks are called ‘hydration shells’. Hydrogen bonds of water molecules are normally weak and transient , but presence of comparatively heavy ethyl alcohol molecules attached to them in azeotropic ratios used for this process make the hydration shells more stable, due to the peculiar properties of hydrogen bonds in azeotropic mixtures. Clathrate-like supra-molecular ‘host-guest’ complexes are formed, where drug molecules act as ‘guests’ and water-ethyl alcohol molecules as ‘hosts’. This is what happen during early stages of potentization.
During serial process of diluting and violent shaking, due to cavitation and nano bubbles formation, ‘guest’ molecules happen to be adsorbed to the walls of nano bubbles, and escape from ‘guest-host’ complexes, and empty ‘hydration shells’ remains. Formation of new ‘guest-host’ complexes and generation of empty ‘hydration shells’ continues. Due to serial dilutions, the concentration of drug molecules is reduced by each stage, same time increasing the concentration of empty ‘hydration shells’. By the time potentization crosses 12c or Avogadro’s limit, the medium become totally devoid of all drug molecules, and will be concentrated by only empty ‘hydration shells’ representing diverse types of constituent drug molecules. This phenomenon is similar to what is known as molecular imprinting in polymers, and the empty hydration shells remaining after the process could be considered as molecular imprints formed in water-alcohol polymer medium.
It has been reported to have observed that supra-molecular formations of water and alcohol at azeotropic ratio, being part of ‘host-guest’ complexes can maintain their network structures even after the ‘guest’ molecules are removed from them. More over, these empty hydration shells are found to behave some what like nanocrystals, and existing ‘crystals ’ can induce the formation of similar networks even in the absence of ‘guest’ molecules’. All these complex factors have to be taken into account when studying the molecular processes involved in potentization.
As such, homeopathic potencies above 12c contains only empty ‘hydration’ shells remaining after the removal of drug molecules from the ‘guest-host’ complexes formed during earlier stages of dilutions. These empty ‘hydration shells’ are actually supra-molecular clusters of water-ethyl alcohol molecules, carrying 3-dimensional nanocavities remaining after removal of ‘guest’ drug molecules. Actually, these nanocavities are ‘molecular imprints’ of drug molecules, which can act as artificial binding sites for pathogenic molecules similar to the drug molecules in their molecular conformations. This ‘conformational affinity of ‘molecular imprints’ towards specific pathogenic molecules make them powerful therapeutic agents. Similia Similibus Curentur is logically explained in terms of these molecular imprints.
Since I consider molecular imprints as the active principles of potentized drugs, I do not subscribe to the idea that ‘higher’ potencies are more ‘powerful’, and I see no special benefit by using ‘higher’ potencies.
I think 12c is enough for completing molecular imprinting and removal of all drug molecules from the medium. What happens at molecular level during further potentization is still an open question for me. In supra-molecular chemistry, there is research going on regarding a phenomenon known as ‘induced molecular assembly’. That means, supra-molecular clusters acting as templates and inducing other molecules to form similar clusters. We know, ‘induced molecular assembly’ is involved in crystallization, clathrate formation etc. Even ‘prions’, which are misfolded proteins, multiply by ‘induced misfolding’. Antibodies, which are ‘molecular imprinted proteins’, also multiply by ‘inducing’ other globulin proteins to change configuration. Molecular imprints, which are supra-molecular clusters of water, may also multiply by the process of ‘induced molecular assembly’, where existing ‘molecular imprints’ may act as templates and induce formation of similar molecular imprints. It is only a possibility, which need in-depth study, which may provide us a rational way of resolving the riddle of high potencies. For the time being, I leave it as an open question.
Even though ‘molecular imprints’ may be formed in higher potencies through the process of ‘induced molecular assembling’, by no way that makes higher potencies more ‘powerful’ or ‘potent’. By 12c, all drug molecules will be removed from the medium, and medium gets saturated with ‘molecular imprints’. 12c will be ideal homeopathic. therapeutic agent. I see no special benefits by going ‘higher’. But, diluting medicines while administering by mixing with water may be beneficial, by increase the number of molecular imprints.
Triturations and low potencies containing original drug molecules act as ‘competitive’ factors towards pathogenic molecules in binding to biological molecules. But, ‘molecular imprints’ contained in potencies above 12c act as ‘complementary’ factors, binding directly to specific pathogenic molecules due to their conformational affinity. Obviously, low potencies and high potencies act therapeutically by exactly opposite molecular mechanisms.
This explanation still remains a hypothesis, and has to be proved in accordance with scientific method. We are already into that work.
REDEFINING HOMEOPATHY 