Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2006; 11: 06
The key issue in basic research forms of CM, such acupuncture and homoeopathy is whether their mechanisms are local dose-effects or systemic signal-effects. A third explanatory model, non-locality instead of material mechanisms, has not yet provided experimental models. However, signal-effect relationships in biological systems may be assessed through the latter’s capacity to interpret its own generated signals. This semiotic or ‘sign-creating’ capacity is an important ‘entry’ to understand messengers’ effects in complex systems.
Biosemiotic analysis was made of the sensitivity of the immunesystem, the assumed target of complementary medical interventions. A key immuneregulator is serotonin through its activation of T memory cells after maturation of dendritic cells (DC). Internal feedback mechanisms were identified which resemble those of histamine. The analytic model, the semiotic triangle after Charles Peirce, distinguishes between agents and structures which function as respectively signs, objects to which these sign refer and interpreting elements within the whole system.
Regulating proteins exert negative and positive feedback on serotonin functions in DC maturation and T memory cell activation. The sequence of immune reactions shows the ascending quality of signal development and recognition needed for development of immune memory. Key interpretants are receptors with specific sensitivity. The final model shows translation of systemic stimuli into signals which upgrade the capacity of the immune systems to interact with localised organs.
The innovation of this mode of analysis is its clarification of (i) the methodology of biosemiotics and (ii) the explanatory potential of neuroimmunological interactions for understanding the systemic effects of complementary medical interventions.
