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Homeopathy 2010; 99(01): 15-24
DOI: 10.1016/j.homp.2009.11.006
Original Paper
Copyright © The Faculty of Homeopathy 2009

Enzyme stabilization by glass-derived silicates in glass-exposed aqueous solutions

John A. Ives
1   Samueli Institute, 1737 King Street, Suite 600, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
,
John R. Moffett
2   Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Building C, Room 2116, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
,
Peethambaran Arun
2   Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Building C, Room 2116, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
,
David Lam
2   Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Building C, Room 2116, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
,
Todor I. Todorov
3   Mineral Resources Program, US Geological Survey, P.O. Box 25046, MS 964D, Denver, CO 80225, USA
,
Andrea B. Brothers
4   A. B. Brothers Microscopy, 8900 Old Dominion Drive, Manassas, VA 20110, USA
,
David J. Anick
5   Harvard Medical School, Center Bldg 1, McLean Hospital, 115 Mill St., Belmont, MA 02478, USA
,
Jose Centeno
6   Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Department of Environmental and Infectious Disease Sciences, 6825 16th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20306, USA
,
M.A.A. Namboodiri
2   Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Building C, Room 2116, 4301 Jones Bridge Rd., Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
,
Wayne B. Jonas
1   Samueli Institute, 1737 King Street, Suite 600, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA
› Author Affiliations
Subject Editor:
Further Information

Publication History

Received29 September 2009
revised06 November 2009

accepted06 November 2009

Publication Date:
20 December 2017 (online)

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Objectives: To analyze the solutes leaching from glass containers into aqueous solutions, and to show that these solutes have enzyme activity stabilizing effects in very dilute solutions.

Methods: Enzyme assays with acetylcholine esterase were used to analyze serially succussed and diluted (SSD) solutions prepared in glass and plastic containers. Aqueous SSD preparations starting with various solutes, or water alone, were prepared under several conditions, and tested for their solute content and their ability to affect enzyme stability in dilute solution.

Results: We confirm that water acts to dissolve constituents from glass vials, and show that the solutes derived from the glass have effects on enzymes in the resultant solutions. Enzyme assays demonstrated that enzyme stability in purified and deionized water was enhanced in SSD solutions that were prepared in glass containers, but not those prepared in plastic. The increased enzyme stability could be mimicked in a dose-dependent manner by the addition of silicates to the purified, deionized water that enzymes were dissolved in. Elemental analyses of SSD water preparations made in glass vials showed that boron, silicon, and sodium were present at micromolar concentrations.

Conclusions: These results show that silicates and other solutes are present at micromolar levels in all glass-exposed solutions, whether pharmaceutical or homeopathic in nature. Even though silicates are known to have biological activity at higher concentrations, the silicate concentrations we measured in homeopathic preparations were too low to account for any purported in vivo efficacy, but could potentially influence in vitro biological assays reporting homeopathic effects.

Keywords

Glass - Silica - Drug packaging - Enzyme activity - Homeopathy acetylcholine esterase
 

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