This paper examines the activation and inhibition of activation of human basophils.
After a brief description of human basophils, different methods to determine basophil
activation are discussed with a special emphasis on the use of flow cytometric methods,
as these circumvent the potential problems of assays based on the loss of colour by
activated basophils. The activation of human basophils by ultra-high dilutions of
anti-IgE is discussed. The majority of the paper describes the inhibition of basophil
activation by ultra-high dilutions of histamine. The results from published papers
are described and discussed.
After over 20 years research trying to find out if high dilutions of histamine have
a negative feedback effect on the activation of basophils by anti-IgE, what do we
know? The methods are poorly standardized between laboratories – although the same
is true for conventional studies. Certainly there appears to be some evidence for
an effect – albeit small in some cases – with the high dilutions in several different
laboratories using the flow cytometric methodologies. After standardization of a number
of parameters, it is recommended that a multi-centre trial be performed to hopefully
put an end to this “never-ending story”.
Keywords
Homeopathy -
In vitro
- Basophils
