Table 3.

Summary of laboratory studies on granulocytes

✓ Belladonna, Hepar Sulphur, Pyrogenium, Silicea stimulate or inhibit the leukocyte chemotaxis, with variable effects in different individuals (55).

✓ Belladonna and Ferrum Phosphoricum 5c and 9c (not Apis 9c) inhibit zymosan-stimulated metabolism, with individual sensitivity (55).

✓ Bryonia 4c and 9c stimulate the oxidative metabolism of granulocytes (57).

✓ Manganum phosphoricum (6× to 8×), Magnesium phosphoricum, (6× to 8×) and Phosphorus (30× to 200×) inhibit the oxidative metabolism of granulocytes (60). The high-dilution effects of Phosphorus are not evident in all experiments.

✓ No effects of Traumeel S on the oxidative metabolism of human granulocytes (61).

✓ Podophyllum (4×) and low dilutions of podophyllotoxin prime the oxidative metabolism of granulocytes; higher doses of the same toxin exert an inhibitory effect (63).

✓ Phorbol myristate acetate, a known activator of granulocytes, seems to act on these cells also through ‘electronic transmission’ of the signal (64).