Objective: Jäger et al observed effects of Arsenicum album in a plant bioassay using arsenic-stressed duckweed (Lemna gibba L.). By reproducing these experiments, the influence of a different location and
researcher will be investigated. Moreover, the test system has been expanded with
metabolomic analysis to reveal biochemical pathways that can be affected by homeopathic
remedies.
Methods: The test system with arsenic-stressed duckweed had to be set up at the University
of Freiburg. To follow the experimental settings of Jäger et al, a climate chamber
was constructed, which allows keeping conditions of temperature, air humidity, and
light intensity constant. To prevent cross-contamination in the experiments, a further
shielding surrounding each beaker was included. The highly standardized conditions
resulted in very small coefficients of variance (≈ 1%). To investigate the stability
of the test system, three systematic negative control experiments using only unsuccussed
pure water were conducted. In further experiments, decimal diluted and succussed potencies
of Arsenicum album in eight potency levels (17×, 18×, 21–23×, 28×, 30×, and 33×) will be tested. Additionally,
metabolomic fingerprints of treated and untreated plants will be compared. This complementary
analysis allows for a statistical evaluation of several thousand metabolomes with
principal components analysis (PCA). Pathways that are affected by homeopathic remedies
could possibly be revealed by further analyses.
Results: The experimental settings of Jäger et al were reproducible. No significant effects
were observed in the systematic negative control experiments, which indicate a stable
test system.
Conclusion: A test system that revealed significant effects of homeopathic remedies on arsenic-stressed
duckweed was recreated at a second location. In addition to the growth rate of duckweed,
metabolomics will be used to reveal differences between treated and untreated plants.
Keywords: Arsenic-stressed plant bioassay, reproduction, Arsenicum album, homeopathy, metabolomics
