Natural defense mechanism, applications

Homeopathic The application of treating and preventing disease with minute doses of drugs or remedies to enhance the organism s natural defense mechanisms. 

In a series of papers, Jeschke and coworkers [87-90] as well as Schlick and coworkers [91, 92] studied self-assembled nanocomposite materials made from polymers and natural clays or artificial silicates. These nanocomposite materials have superior mechanical and also heat resistant properties and are hence interesting for applications in the fields of defense and protection. Such polymer-inorganic hybrid materials form complex stmctures and EPR spectroscopy has to be combined with other physical techniques such as NMR spectroscopy, small and... 

Large quantities of polysaccharides are available in nature and many of them display a variety of biological functions [1 ]. There is an abundance of literature on the isolation of bioactive polysaccharides from botanical sources [1-5]. This area of research has attracted a lot of interest due to the fact that most of the bioactive polysaccharides are nontoxic with minimal side effects [4,5]. Hence, this class of biopolymers forms ideal candidates for therapeutic applications. Some of the notable bioactivities of botanical polysaccharides include antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and antitumor properties [4-10]. However, the mechanism of action of these biopolymers is not well understood. In general, one of the primary mechanisms of action of polysaccharides is nonspecific immunomodulation [8]. The key mechanism behind the immunomodulatory, anticancer, antibacterial, and other pharmacological activities of plant polysaccharides is to activate macrophages, which then leads to modulation of the complement system that activates the cells involved in innate immunity and improves host defense [1—4,11,12]. 

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