Quantum Biology Research Meets Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Mechanisms: A Biomedical Perspective
, Veronica Redaelli 2, Nicola Ludwig 3,*, Abdallah Barjas Qaswal 4,*, Alice Ghidoni 5, Andrea Faini 1, Debora Rosa 1, Carolina Lombardi 6,7, Martino Pengo 1, Patrizia Bossolasco 8, Vincenzo Silani 8,9 and Gianfranco Parati 1,6,7Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Quantum biology is an emergent field of research requiring an interdisciplinary interaction of different scientific areas, mainly quantum field theory, operator algebra, quantum mechanics, and also, less notably, atomic and molecular physics and biology. Based on the theoretical and experimental work of Dicke (1954) on superfluorescence (Dicke, R.H. (1954). Coherence in spontaneous radiation processes. Physical Review, 93, 99-110), the field of quantum biology started in the eighties by Emilio Del Giudice and coworkers (1982, 1988) by advancing the development of the theory of water coherent dipole interactions (Del Giudice, E., Doglia, S., and Milani, M. (1982), Del Giudice, E., Preparata, G., and Vitiello, G. (1988). Water as a free electric dipole laser. Physical Review Letters, 61, 1085-10 ). And (A collective dynamics in metabolically active cells. Physics Letters, 90A. 104-106). In the nineties, Mari Jibu and coworkers also set analytically the basic theoretical ideas of quantum biology of the brain ( Mari Jibu and Kunio Yasue, The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Vol. 18, No. 2/3, Special Issue: Understanding Tomorrow's Mind: Advances in Chaos Theory, Quantum Theory, and Consciousness in psychology (Spring and Summer 1997), pp. 205-227, and references therein). In the dome of the new century, S. Kobe and coworkers verified the hypothesis of Del Giudice and Jibu experimentally by studying the nanocrystalization of calcium carbonate in magnetic fields (DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2003.09.136, DOI: 10.1016/S1463-0184(02)00035-7). Later, in a series of papers, A. C. Cefalas and coworkers further advanced the theoretical and experimental notions of Quantum biology by interpreting coherent memory and energy storage, both needed in Quantum Biology (DOI:10.1007/978-1-0716-0962-0, DOI: 10.1166/jctn.2010.1544, DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2008.04.056).
Many scientists, mainly chemists and biologists, confuse and mix the underdeveloped field of quantum biology with quantum chemistry. The two fields are entirely different, and the misinterpretation is repeated in the current review article. Therefore, despite the rationale and objectives of a review article by Laura Calvillo et al. on Quantum biology is transparent, the misinterpretation of Quantum Biology and quantum chemistry is evident in the article as many references are almost irrelevant to the subject. The relation of several cited articles (e.g., on page 3: [10], [13], [16], [28]) with Quantum Biology is unclear, and neither of these articles is discussed in the text.
Consequently, the article does not refer to the few milestone articles on Quantum Biology, as one expects from a review article.
The article should be redefined, re-directed and re-constructed along with the above notions and lines. In addition, all the references not suitable for a quantum chemistry-biology article should be removed. It is better to have only a few articles on the subject than many irrelevant.
Technical issues
Please define the abbreviation only once and when it appears for the first time. For example :
Page 5: "obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome" Please correct to:" OSA syndrome"
Page 6, Page 7, Page 8: "T-cell receptor (TCR)" Please correct to:" TCR"
Page 6, reactive oxygen species (ROS). Please correct to "ROS"
Page 3:" autonomic nervous system (ANS)", Please correct to "ANS"
Page 5: "autonomic nervous system", Please correct to "ANS".
Please use subscripts, or super superscripts were needed. For example
Page 6: "decrease of superoxide ion (O2•–)" Please correct to "decrease of superoxide ion (O2•–)
Page 6:" hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations, Please correct to "hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations.
Page 7:" Ca2+" Please correct to "Ca2+"
Please use the same format for "Table" and "paragraphs". For example
Page 11 : "specific quantum effect (Tab 1)" Please correct to "specific quantum effect (Table 1)
Page 12 : "electromagnetic fields (pg.3.1)", "respiratory chain (pg. 3.2)" but in page 13 "previously (3.2 paragraph)" and page 14 "(see Paragraph 3.3", page 17 "(Paragraph 3.4)"
Page 11: "quantum effect (Tab 1)" but "Table 1" in the rest of the article.
Please use the same paragraph and subparagraph format. See for example the following cases :
Page 7 :
3.2. Proton pumping in mitochondrial respiratory chain and quantum theory of T-cell receptor (TCR)-degeneracy
-Mitochondrial respiratory chain.
Page 10 :
3.4. Quantum properties of ion channels and proton tunneling in the DNA
Ion channels:
Page 15 :
3.7. Ion Channels dysfunction and Inherited Cardiac Diseases
-Ion channels dysfunction.
Page 12:
3.5 Problems related to inflammation and immune response
3.5.1. Stem Cells Therapy
Other typo mistakes and issues
The affiliations of “Patrizia Bossolasco8, Vincenzo Silani8,9” are missing.
"† Ludwig-co-corresponding author…." should be replaced with "**Ludwig-co-corresponding author..."
The reference numbers in the text start from Ref. 2.
“[10,11,20–29,12,30,13–19],” Please rearrange and merge.
Page 2, Table 1: "wave-like properties. Accordingly": Please correct to "wave-like properties. Accordingly"
open and close the parentheses: Page 7 "reaction products [the….." Page 11 "The reader is addressed to these references for details).
Page 10 "Berneche_Roux model" Please correct to "Berneche-Roux model"
Page 10:" mathematical models of ion channels" correct to" Mathematical models of ion channels".
The caption of Figure 1 and Table 2: the abbreviation "BM" for "Bone Marrow" is not used in the text.
Please correct spelling mistakes. For example:
Page 6" electron around the nucleus arise an angular" correct to" electron around the nucleus arises an angular"
Page 7: "The sum of orbital angular momentum and spin give" correct to "The sum of orbital angular momentum and spin gives"
Page 7: "could ultimately affects" correct to "could ultimately affect"
Page 7: "as having piston that have a positive charge" correct to "as having piston that has a positive charge"
Page 9: "explored the question whether biophotons [53,54] might carrier information in the brain" correct to "explored the question on whether biophotons [53,54] might carry information in the brain"
Page 12: "When a hydrogen atom lose its electron in a bond, it become equivalent" correct to "When a hydrogen atom loses its electron in a bond, it becomes equivalent" .
Page 12: "pluripotency property of embryonic stem cells" correct to "pluripotency property as embryonic stem cells"
The publication of this article is recommended after a significant revision along the above lines.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Quantum biology is an emergent field of research requiring an interdisciplinary
interaction of different scientific areas, mainly quantum field theory, operator algebra,
quantum mechanics, and also, less notably, atomic and molecular physics and biology.
Based on the theoretical and experimental work of Dicke (1954) on superfluorescence
(Dicke, R.H. (1954). Coherence in spontaneous radiation processes. Physical
Review, 93, 99-110), the field of quantum biology started in the eighties by Emilio Del
Giudice and coworkers (1982, 1988) by advancing the development of the theory of water
coherent dipole interactions (Del Giudice, E., Doglia, S., and Milani, M. (1982),
Del Giudice, E., Preparata, G., and Vitiello, G. (1988). Water as a free electric
dipole laser. Physical Review Letters, 61, 1085-10 ). And (A collective dynamics
in metabolically active cells. Physics Letters, 90A. 104-106). In the nineties, Mari
Jibu and coworkers also set analytically the basic theoretical ideas of quantum biology of
the brain ( Mari Jibu and Kunio Yasue, The Journal of Mind and Behavior,
Vol. 18, No. 2/3, Special Issue: Understanding Tomorrow's Mind: Advances
in Chaos Theory, Quantum Theory, and Consciousness in psychology (Spring
and Summer 1997), pp. 205-227, and references therein). In the dome of the new
century, S. Kobe and coworkers verified the hypothesis of Del Giudice and Jibu experimentally by studying the nanocrystalization of calcium carbonate in magnetic fields
(DOI: 10.1016/j.msec.2003.09.136, DOI: 10.1016/S1463-0184(02)00035-7).
Later, in a series of papers, A. C. Cefalas and coworkers further advanced the theoretical
and experimental notions of Quantum biology by interpreting coherent memory and
energy storage, both needed in Quantum Biology (DOI:10.1007/978-1-0716-0962-0,
DOI: 10.1166/jctn.2010.1544, DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2008.04.056).
Many scientists, mainly chemists and biologists, confuse and mix the underdeveloped
field of quantum biology with quantum chemistry. The two fields are entirely different,
and the misinterpretation is repeated in the current review article. Therefore, despite the
rationale and objectives of a review article by Laura Calvillo et al. on Quantum biology is
transparent, the misinterpretation of Quantum Biology and quantum chemistry is
evident in the article as many references are almost irrelevant to the subject. The relation
of several cited articles (e.g., on page 3: [10], [13], [16], [28]) with Quantum Biology is
unclear, and neither of these articles is discussed in the text.
Consequently, the article does not refer to the few milestone articles on Quantum
Biology, as one expects from a review article. The article should be redefined, re-directed and re-constructed along with the above notions and lines. In addition, all the references not suitable for a quantum chemistry biology article should be removed. It is better to have only a few articles on the subject than many irrelevant.
We thank the Reviewer for highlighting this point on which we agree. We have added the important Reviewer’s concepts and citations in the Introduction, Conclusion and Bibliography sections. In particular, following the suggestion of re-direct the paper toward quantum biology instead of paying attention to quantum chemistry we changed significantly the reference our review is based on. When quantum chemistry works were relevant from a medical point of view, a sentence clarifying the quantum chemistry nature of the study has been added, or the word “quantum biology” have been replaced with “quantum calculations or studies” throughout the text. The references not relevant to the work have been deleted.
Technical issues
Please define the abbreviation only once and when it appears for the first
time. For example:
Page 5: "obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome" Please correct to:" OSA syndrome"
Page 6, Page 7, Page 8: "T-cell receptor (TCR)" Please correct to:" TCR"
Page 6, reactive oxygen species (ROS). Please correct to "ROS"
Page 3:" autonomic nervous system (ANS)", Please correct to "ANS"
Page 5: "autonomic nervous system", Please correct to "ANS".
We thank the Reviewer, we have corrected accordingly.
Please use subscripts, or super superscripts were needed.
Page 6: "decrease of superoxide ion (O2•–)" Please correct to "decrease of superoxide ion….
Thank you for having highlighted this problem which occurred during the uploading process. In the original manuscript subscripts and superscripts were in the right form. We corrected again in the word format provided by the Journal, we kindly ask the Editors to check this technical issue.
Please use the same format for "Table" and "paragraphs". For example
Page 11 : "specific quantum effect (Tab 1)" Please correct to "specific quantum effect
(Table 1)
Page 12 : "electromagnetic fields (pg.3.1)", "respiratory chain (pg. 3.2)" but in page 13
"previously (3.2 paragraph)" and page 14 "(see Paragraph 3.3", page 17 "(Paragraph 3.4)"
Page 11: "quantum effect (Tab 1)" but "Table 1" in the rest of the article.
Thank you for this revision; we have now corrected accordingly
Please use the same paragraph and subparagraph format. See for example
the following cases :
Page 7 :
3.2. Proton pumping in mitochondrial respiratory chain and quantum theory of T-cell
receptor (TCR)-degeneracy
-Mitochondrial respiratory chain.
Page 10 :
3.4. Quantum properties of ion channels and proton tunneling in the DNA
Ion channels:
Page 15 :
3.7. Ion Channels dysfunction and Inherited Cardiac Diseases
-Ion channels dysfunction.
Page 12:
3.5 Problems related to inflammation and immune response
3.5.1. Stem Cells Therapy
Thank you for the suggestion; we have changed accordingly
Other typo mistakes and issues
The affiliations of “Patrizia Bossolasco , Vincenzo Silani ” are missing.
"† Ludwig-co-corresponding author…." should be replaced with "**Ludwig-cocorresponding
author..."
The reference numbers in the text start from Ref. 2.
“[10,11,20–29,12,30,13–19],” Please rearrange and merge.
Page 2, Table 1: "wave-like properties. Accordingly": Please correct to "wave-like
properties. Accordingly
We thank reviewer for her/his accuracy. Again, some of the typos/mistakes were in the right form in the original manuscript. We corrected again in the word format provided by the Journal, we kindly ask the Editors to check this technical issue.
open and close the parentheses: Page 7 "reaction products [the….." Page 11 "The
reader is addressed to these references for details).
Page 10 "Berneche_Roux model" Please correct to "Berneche-Roux model"
Page 10:" mathematical models of ion channels" correct to" Mathematical models of ion
channels".
The caption of Figure 1 and Table 2: the abbreviation "BM" for "Bone Marrow" is not used
in the text.
Thank you for the accuracy. We have corrected accordingly
Please correct spelling mistakes. For example:
Page 6" electron around the nucleus arise an angular" correct to" electron around the
nucleus arises an angular"
Page 7: "The sum of orbital angular momentum and spin give" correct to "The sum of
orbital angular momentum and spin gives"
Page 7: "could ultimately affects" correct to "could ultimately affect"
Page 7: "as having piston that have a positive charge" correct to "as having piston that has
a positive charge"
Page 9: "explored the question whether biophotons [53,54] might carrier information in
the brain" correct to "explored the question on whether biophotons [53,54] might carry
information in the brain"
Page 12: "When a hydrogen atom lose its electron in a bond, it become equivalent" correct
to "When a hydrogen atom loses its electron in a bond, it becomes equivalent" .
Page 12: "pluripotency property of embryonic stem cells" correct to "pluripotency
property as embryonic stem cells"
Thank you for the corrections. We have modified the text accordingly
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have written an interesting review paper and it can be published in quantum reports after some minor revisions:
1- The authors did not take the challenges for each effect into account seriously except for a few sentences. Living systems are macroscopic, complex, hot, wet, and noisy, therefore what type of mechanisms can protect quantum effects against the harsh environments in the biological systems. I recommend adding a separate section and citing relevant papers which are discussing this issue.
2- Regarding tunneling probabilities, the argument that if the probability being non-zero is a reason for the existence of quantum effect is not enough, it is important to see if the time scales of the biological function and probabilities agree. I recommend adding some numbers in the text and clarifying this point.
3- Table 1, has been cited in the main text several times while for some parts it really doesn't address the point in the sentence. This can be slightly revised with better clarifications.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The authors have written an interesting review paper and it can be published in quantum
reports after some minor revisions:
1- The authors did not take the challenges for each effect into account seriously except for
a few sentences. Living systems are macroscopic, complex, hot, wet, and noisy, therefore
what type of mechanisms can protect quantum effects against the harsh environments in
the biological systems. I recommend adding a separate section and citing relevant papers
which are discussing this issue.
We thank the Reviewer for this recommendation which improves the quality of our work. A “limitation” paragraph has been added at the end of the Conclusions
2- Regarding tunneling probabilities, the argument that if the probability being non-zero
is a reason for the existence of quantum effect is not enough, it is important to see if the
time scales of the biological function and probabilities agree. I recommend adding some
numbers in the text and clarifying this point.
We thank the Reviewer for this suggestion, we have added some numbers to show the tunnelling time for ions tunnelling through the closed gate and tunnelling time for proton tunnelling in DNA, please see end of paragraph 3.4 and 3.7. These numbers are compared with time scale of the biological functions and they exhibited their consistency.
3- Table 1, has been cited in the main text several times while for some parts it really
doesn't address the point in the sentence. This can be slightly revised with better
clarifications.
We thank the Reviewer for the comment. We have corrected accordingly.
Submission Date
15 February 2022
3/3
Date of this review
07 Mar 2022 17:13:45
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors satisfactorily addressed the suggested revisions. The manuscript is suitable for publication in Quantum Reports (Special Issue Recent Advances in Quantum Biology) in its present form.
