Memory of water: Difference between revisions
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The consensus of mainstream science is that liquid water exists as a continuously rearranging [[hydrogen bond|hydrogen-bonded]] network with motions on the picosecond (10<sup>−12</sup> s) scale.<ref>F. N. Keutsch, J. D. Cruzan, and R. J. Saykally, Chemical Reviews, Vol.'''103''', pp. 2533-2577 (2003)</ref>. A picture of a quickly rearranging network is very difficult to reconcile with liquid water structures that are sustained for more than a few picoseconds. Accordingly there is no room for a water "memory" in the modern scientific view on the liquid. If work other than effects on human basophils would become available that would support the notion of water memory, and if this work would stand scientific scrutiny, then much of the existing experimental and theoretical data on liquid water would have to be reinterpreted or even rejected. Before this happens, most water researchers do not find it useful to speculate in what way liquid water could store long-lived information. | The consensus of mainstream science is that liquid water exists as a continuously rearranging [[hydrogen bond|hydrogen-bonded]] network with motions on the picosecond (10<sup>−12</sup> s) scale.<ref>F. N. Keutsch, J. D. Cruzan, and R. J. Saykally, Chemical Reviews, Vol.'''103''', pp. 2533-2577 (2003)</ref>. A picture of a quickly rearranging network is very difficult to reconcile with liquid water structures that are sustained for more than a few picoseconds. Accordingly there is no room for a water "memory" in the modern scientific view on the liquid. If work other than effects on human basophils would become available that would support the notion of water memory, and if this work would stand scientific scrutiny, then much of the existing experimental and theoretical data on liquid water would have to be reinterpreted or even rejected. Before this happens, most water researchers do not find it useful to speculate in what way liquid water could store long-lived information. | ||
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==The components of liquid water== | ==The components of liquid water== | ||
Water is not simply a collection of molecules of H<sub>2</sub>O, it contains several molecular species including ''ortho'' and ''para'' water molecules, and water molecules with different isotopic compositions such as HDO and H<sub>2</sub><sup>18</sup>O. These water molecules as part of weakly-bound but partially-covalently linked molecular clusters containing one, two, three or four hydrogen bonds, and hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion species. In addition, there are ''always'' adventitious solutes in liquid water. Even double-distilled and deionized water always contains significant and variable trace amounts of contaminating ions, and different samples will differ in the contaminants that they contain. | Water is not simply a collection of molecules of H<sub>2</sub>O, it contains several molecular species including ''ortho'' and ''para'' water molecules, and water molecules with different isotopic compositions such as HDO and H<sub>2</sub><sup>18</sup>O. These water molecules as part of weakly-bound but partially-covalently linked molecular clusters containing one, two, three or four hydrogen bonds, and hydrogen ion and hydroxide ion species. In addition, there are ''always'' adventitious solutes in liquid water. Even double-distilled and deionized water always contains significant and variable trace amounts of contaminating ions, and different samples will differ in the contaminants that they contain. | ||
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These mechanisms are not mechanisms of memory in any cognitive or electronic computing sense; the term memory here is used as a metaphor, implying only that the past history has a discernible influence on the present properties. | These mechanisms are not mechanisms of memory in any cognitive or electronic computing sense; the term memory here is used as a metaphor, implying only that the past history has a discernible influence on the present properties. | ||
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==The Benveniste studies== | ==The Benveniste studies== | ||
Human [[basophil]]s are a rare [[granulocyte]] cell type accounting for 0.1–1% of white blood cells; these cells contain large numbers of "granules" which store inflammatory mediators, including in particular [[histamine]]. These cells can be cultured readily and studied ''in vitro''. In these cells, exposure to anti-human-IgE [[antibodies]] triggers a "degranulation" process in which the granules fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents, including histamine, into the extracellular fluid. At high concentrations (>10<sup>−6</sup> M) histamine binds to H2 receptors on the surface of the basophils, and regulates the basophil degranulation by feedback inhibition. | Human [[basophil]]s are a rare [[granulocyte]] cell type accounting for 0.1–1% of white blood cells; these cells contain large numbers of "granules" which store inflammatory mediators, including in particular [[histamine]]. These cells can be cultured readily and studied ''in vitro''. In these cells, exposure to anti-human-IgE [[antibodies]] triggers a "degranulation" process in which the granules fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents, including histamine, into the extracellular fluid. At high concentrations (>10<sup>−6</sup> M) histamine binds to H2 receptors on the surface of the basophils, and regulates the basophil degranulation by feedback inhibition. | ||
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Benveniste never retracted his claims. On the contrary, in 1997, he declared that the memory could be transmitted across a digital telephone link, suggesting that the memory involved electromagnetic signals <ref>Benveniste J ''et al.'' (1997) [http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?lg=us&nd=n4_3: "Transatlantic Transfer of Digitized Antigen Signal by Telephone Link ''J Allergy Clin Immunol - Program and abstracts of papers presented during scientific sessions AAAAI/AAI.CIS Joint Meeting February 21-26, 1997</ref>. | Benveniste never retracted his claims. On the contrary, in 1997, he declared that the memory could be transmitted across a digital telephone link, suggesting that the memory involved electromagnetic signals <ref>Benveniste J ''et al.'' (1997) [http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?lg=us&nd=n4_3: "Transatlantic Transfer of Digitized Antigen Signal by Telephone Link ''J Allergy Clin Immunol - Program and abstracts of papers presented during scientific sessions AAAAI/AAI.CIS Joint Meeting February 21-26, 1997</ref>. | ||
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==Water in living organisms== | ==Water in living organisms== | ||
Water is essential for living organisms at every level; at the molecular level in living cells, it is essential for functional macromolecular folding, stabilization and activity, transport, membrane formation and protein insertion into membranes; it the intracellular matrix in which biological molecules interact. Understanding exactly how water diffuses when confined in proximity to complex macromolecules inside a cell is therefore an important challenge. The diffusion coefficient of water in biological tissues has been measured using [[NMR spectroscopy|nuclear magnetic resonance]], and these have shown that, within a cell, water diffuses much more slowly than pure water in aqueous media. This is partly explained by tortuosity effects, macromolecular crowding and confinement effects, but some (but not all<ref>Jasnin M ''et al.'' (2008) Down to atomic-scale intracellular water dynamics EMBO reports [http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v9/n6/full/embor200850.html 9:543–7.("Our data show that the water between macromolecules in the ''in vivo'' intracellular environment has properties that are essentially the same as those of pure water..." )</ref>) have suggested that the interaction with macromolecules might cause "clustering" of water molecules -that it might change the structure of the intracellular water. | Water is essential for living organisms at every level; at the molecular level in living cells, it is essential for functional macromolecular folding, stabilization and activity, transport, membrane formation and protein insertion into membranes; it the intracellular matrix in which biological molecules interact. Understanding exactly how water diffuses when confined in proximity to complex macromolecules inside a cell is therefore an important challenge. The diffusion coefficient of water in biological tissues has been measured using [[NMR spectroscopy|nuclear magnetic resonance]], and these have shown that, within a cell, water diffuses much more slowly than pure water in aqueous media. This is partly explained by tortuosity effects, macromolecular crowding and confinement effects, but some (but not all<ref>Jasnin M ''et al.'' (2008) Down to atomic-scale intracellular water dynamics EMBO reports [http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v9/n6/full/embor200850.html 9:543–7.("Our data show that the water between macromolecules in the ''in vivo'' intracellular environment has properties that are essentially the same as those of pure water..." )</ref>) have suggested that the interaction with macromolecules might cause "clustering" of water molecules -that it might change the structure of the intracellular water. | ||
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It has been suggested that micro-bubbles and nano-bubbles, caused by vigorous shaking, might "burst" to produce microenvironments of higher temperature and pressure. <ref>Elia V ''et al.'' (2004) Permanent physio-chemical properties of extremely diluted aqueous solutions of homeopathic medicines ''Homeopathy'' 93:144–50.</ref> Some scientists have estimated that the vigorous shaking involved with making homeopathic remedies changes the pressure in the water, akin to water being at 10,000 feet in altitude.<ref>Roy R''et al.'' (2005) The Structure of liquid water: Novel insights from materials research; potential relevance to homeopathy, ''Materials Research Innovations'' [http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf 9:4].</ref> | It has been suggested that micro-bubbles and nano-bubbles, caused by vigorous shaking, might "burst" to produce microenvironments of higher temperature and pressure. <ref>Elia V ''et al.'' (2004) Permanent physio-chemical properties of extremely diluted aqueous solutions of homeopathic medicines ''Homeopathy'' 93:144–50.</ref> Some scientists have estimated that the vigorous shaking involved with making homeopathic remedies changes the pressure in the water, akin to water being at 10,000 feet in altitude.<ref>Roy R''et al.'' (2005) The Structure of liquid water: Novel insights from materials research; potential relevance to homeopathy, ''Materials Research Innovations'' [http://www.rustumroy.com/Roy_Structure%20of%20Water.pdf 9:4].</ref> | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist|2}} | {{reflist|2}} | ||
Revision as of 11:19, 28 April 2009
Template:TOC-right Memory of water is a phrase originated by journalists from Le Monde, a prestigious French newspaper, to designate the implications of the controversial research of Jacques Benveniste and his colleagues on homeopathy; the French phrase is mémoire de l'eau. Benveniste et al. reported[1] that particular solutions of biologically active compounds subjected to sequential physical processing and progressive dilutions appeared to have some biological effects that were different from the "control" effects of the water used as a solvent, even though the solution was diluted so much that the chance that a single molecule of the biologically active solute was left in it was completely negligible. Benveniste et al. hypothesized that water somehow "remembers" the active compounds (together with their biological properties) that it contained before dilution. The work resulted in considerable controversy, as most other laboratories stated they were unable to reproduce the reported effects, while, on the other hand, an international collaboration led by Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University of Belfast reported confirmation.[2] Following Benveniste and coworkers, Ennis et al. studied the effects of homeopathically treated solutions on human basophils. In their paper Ennis and coworkers state emphatically and repeatedly that they cannot explain their findings.
An overview of the issues surrounding the memory of water and its relationship to homeopathic medicine was the subject of a special issue of the leading journal on homeopathy.[3] The articles in this issue propose different mechanisms for water memory, such as: electromagnetic exchange of information between molecules, breaking of temporal symmetry, thermoluminescence, entanglement described by a new quantum theory, formation of hydrogen peroxide, clathrate formation, etc. without any mechanism singularly standing out as the definitive explanation.
The consensus of mainstream science is that liquid water exists as a continuously rearranging hydrogen-bonded network with motions on the picosecond (10−12 s) scale.[4]. A picture of a quickly rearranging network is very difficult to reconcile with liquid water structures that are sustained for more than a few picoseconds. Accordingly there is no room for a water "memory" in the modern scientific view on the liquid. If work other than effects on human basophils would become available that would support the notion of water memory, and if this work would stand scientific scrutiny, then much of the existing experimental and theoretical data on liquid water would have to be reinterpreted or even rejected. Before this happens, most water researchers do not find it useful to speculate in what way liquid water could store long-lived information.
The Benveniste studies
Human basophils are a rare granulocyte cell type accounting for 0.1–1% of white blood cells; these cells contain large numbers of "granules" which store inflammatory mediators, including in particular histamine. These cells can be cultured readily and studied in vitro. In these cells, exposure to anti-human-IgE antibodies triggers a "degranulation" process in which the granules fuse with the plasma membrane to release their contents, including histamine, into the extracellular fluid. At high concentrations (>10−6 M) histamine binds to H2 receptors on the surface of the basophils, and regulates the basophil degranulation by feedback inhibition.
Basophil activation can be measured in several different ways. First, degranulated cells can be stained and then counted; this is a subjective measurement and is prone to variable outcomes depending on the observer. Second, histamine release into the culture medium can be measured using fluorimetric assays. Third, the fusion of cytoplasmatic granules leads to the expression of the marker CD63 on the surface of the basophils; the percentage of basophils that express CD63 can be determined with flow-cytometry, and correlates well with histamine release.
In 1988, Jacques Benveniste (1935-2004) a distinguished French immunologist published a controversial paper in Nature reporting on the action of very high dilutions of anti-immunoglobulin E on the degranulation of human basophils.[1] At the high dilutions used, the solutions should have contained only molecules of water, and no molecules of (anti-IgE) at all. Benveniste concluded that the configuration of molecules in water was biologically active, and a journalist coined the term water memory.
Nature published the article with two unprecedented conditions: first, that the results must first be confirmed by other laboratories; second, that a team selected by Nature be allowed to investigate his laboratory following publication. Benveniste accepted these conditions; the results were replicated in Milan, Italy; in Toronto, Canada; in Tel-Aviv, Israel and in Marseille, France, and the article was accompanied by an editorial titled "When to believe the unbelievable." After publication, the follow-up investigation was conducted by a team including the editor of Nature, Dr John Maddox, American scientific fraud investigator and chemist Walter Stewart, and "professional pseudoscience debunker" James Randi. With the cooperation of Benveniste's team, under double-blind conditions, they failed to replicate the results. Benveniste refused to withdraw his claims, and the team published in the July 1988 a detailed critique of Benveniste’s study. They claimed that the experiments were badly controlled statistically, that measurements that conflicted with the claim had been excluded, that there was insufficient"avoidance of contamination, and that there were questions of undisclosed conflict of interest, as the salaries of two coauthors of the published article were paid for under a contract with the French company Boiron et Cie.[5]
In the same issue of Nature (and subsequently) Benveniste vigorously attacked the Nature team’s "mockery of scientific inquiry." [6] Subsequent attempts by other labs to reproduce Beneviste's results have failed to reproduce the effects [7]. However other studies have looked at the effects of very low concentrations of histamine on degranulation induced by anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, and again reported effects at very low concentrations [8].. As degranulation itself produces relatively high concentrations of histamine in the medium, one would only expect an effect with very high concentrations of added histamine - and indeed the most recent study reported significant effects only at 10-2M histamine. These experiments generally involved dilutions of histamine to concentrations of as low as 10-38M, and the dilutions were performed conventionally not according to the protocols used in homeopathy.
So how is it possible that adding vanishingly low concentrations of histamine to a preparation that is already secreting high concentrations might have any effect? What could possibly explain the extraordinary results reported by Beneviste and others? One difficulty with the basophil preparation is that, in these cells, degranulation can be triggered by many different stimuli, including slight mechanical disturbances and environmental variations in temperature, and is sensitive to small differences in incubation time, making adequate controls very difficult. For example, in the experiments of Giggisber et al, [9] the authors found no significant effects of low dilutions of histamine, but did find significant effects for row numbers of the microtiter plates - i.e. there was a significant effect simply of the order in which the samples were assayed.They concluded that seemingly, trivial differences in the experimental set up can lead to significant differences of the results.
Benveniste never retracted his claims. On the contrary, in 1997, he declared that the memory could be transmitted across a digital telephone link, suggesting that the memory involved electromagnetic signals [10].
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 E. Davenas, F. Beauvais, J. Arnara, M. Oberbaum, B. Robinzon, A. Miadonna, A. Tedeschi, B. Pomeranz, P. Fortner, P. Belon, J. Sainte-Laudy, B. Poitevin and J. Benveniste, Human basophil degranulation triggered by very dilute antiserum against IgE, Nature, Vol. 333, pp. 816-818, 30th June, 1988.Free text on DigiBio site. Non-free text on Nature site
- ↑ P. Belon, J. Cumps, M. Ennis , P. F. Mannaioni, M. Roberfroid, J. Sainte-Laudy and F. A. C. Wiegant (2004) Histamine dilutions modulate basophil activation. Inflammation Research 53: 181–188. doi
- ↑ Martin Chaplin, ed. (2007), The Memory of Water Homeopathy. 96:141-230
- Copies of the articles in this special issue are freely available on a private website, along with discussion. Homeopathy Journal Club hosted by Bad Science, a blog by Ben Goldacre
- ↑ F. N. Keutsch, J. D. Cruzan, and R. J. Saykally, Chemical Reviews, Vol.103, pp. 2533-2577 (2003)
- ↑ Maddox, John; James Randi and Walter W. Stewart (28 July 1988). "‘High-dilution’ experiments a delusion" (PDF). Nature 334: 287–290. DOI:10.1038/334287a0. Research Blogging.
- ↑ Benveniste J (1988) Dr Jacques Benveniste replies, News and views, Nature 334:291
- ↑ Hirst SJ et al.(1993) Human basophil degranulation is not triggered by very dilute antiserum against human IgE", Nature 366527.
- ↑ Belon P et al. (2004) Histamine dilutions modulate basophil activity. Inflamm Res 53:181-8 PMID 16036166
- ↑ Guggisberg AG et al. (2005) Replication study concerning the effects of homeopathic dilutions of histamine on human basophil degranulation in vitro. Complement Ther Med 13:91-100.
- ↑ Benveniste J et al. (1997) [http://www.digibio.com/cgi-bin/node.pl?lg=us&nd=n4_3: "Transatlantic Transfer of Digitized Antigen Signal by Telephone Link J Allergy Clin Immunol - Program and abstracts of papers presented during scientific sessions AAAAI/AAI.CIS Joint Meeting February 21-26, 1997