Hormesis¶
Calabrese, E. J., & Baldwin, L. A. (2003). Hormesis: The Dose-Response Revolution. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 43, 175-197.
Cited by¶
8 citations across 8 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Antifragility
- The property is strictly dose-bounded: hormesis, its biological prototype, describes a biphasic curve in which a low dose of a stressor stimulates overcompensation while a high dose of the same stressor is toxic, a dose-response shape Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) documented across thousands of toxicological studies.
This sourceDocuments the biphasic hormetic dose-response curve — low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition — as broadly generalizable across agents, models, and endpoints; the biological prototype for dose-bounded overcompensation and for the controlled-dose transfer to training, immune education, and fault-injection.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The abstract states hormesis as low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, broadly generalizable across agents, models and endpoints; it does not state the 'thousands of toxicological studies' the claim attributes to it.
“Hormesis, a dose-response relationship phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, has been frequently observed in properly designed studies and is broadly generalizable as being independent of chemical/physical agent, biological model, and endpoint measured.”
- The property is strictly dose-bounded: hormesis, its biological prototype, describes a biphasic curve in which a low dose of a stressor stimulates overcompensation while a high dose of the same stressor is toxic, a dose-response shape Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) documented across thousands of toxicological studies.
- Dose-Response Relationship
- Not a linear relationship: while "dose-response" is sometimes colloquially equated with linearity, the canonical pharmacological form is sigmoidal on log-dose, and U-shaped (hormetic) and biphasic relationships are well-documented in specific contexts—a point Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) marshal in their argument that hormesis represents a generalizable, biologically based dose-response signature rather than an exceptional curve type.
This sourceDocuments the biphasic hormetic dose-response curve (low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition) as broadly generalizable; supports D47-022 (hormesis as a generalizable dose-response signature, not an exceptional curve type).
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The abstract establishes hormesis as a biphasic, broadly generalizable dose-response phenomenon, but it does not state that the canonical pharmacological form is sigmoidal on log-dose.
“Hormesis, a dose-response relationship phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, has been frequently observed in properly designed studies and is broadly generalizable as being independent of chemical/physical agent, biological model, and endpoint measured.”
- Not a linear relationship: while "dose-response" is sometimes colloquially equated with linearity, the canonical pharmacological form is sigmoidal on log-dose, and U-shaped (hormetic) and biphasic relationships are well-documented in specific contexts—a point Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) marshal in their argument that hormesis represents a generalizable, biologically based dose-response signature rather than an exceptional curve type.
- Inverted-U Response
- Pharmacology and toxicology: hormesis — low doses of certain agents stimulate while high doses suppress the same response; the therapeutic window is the inverted-U of clinical effect minus toxicity.
This sourceReviews hormesis as the biphasic (inverted-U) dose-response where low doses stimulate and high doses suppress the same response.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The abstract states the hormesis half verbatim (low-dose stimulation, high-dose inhibition) but never mentions a therapeutic window or clinical-effect-minus-toxicity formulation.
“Hormesis, a dose-response relationship phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, has been frequently observed in properly designed studies and is broadly generalizable as being independent of chemical/physical agent, biological model, and endpoint measured.”
- Pharmacology and toxicology: hormesis — low doses of certain agents stimulate while high doses suppress the same response; the therapeutic window is the inverted-U of clinical effect minus toxicity.
- Selectivity Window
- And the inversion-edge inference: some windows have an edge at which the process reverses sign — hormesis, where very low doses are neutral, low doses beneficial, and high doses harmful, is the canonical inverting window — and spotting it changes the predicted failure from "less effective" to "actively harmful."
This sourceDescribes the biphasic (hormetic) dose-response in which low doses are beneficial and high doses harmful — the canonical inverting window where an edge crosses into opposite-signed effect.
Supported in partVerified against the publisher's abstract
The source's abstract and text characterize hormesis as biphasic — low-dose stimulation (beneficial) and high-dose inhibition (harmful) — but do not state a neutral very-low-dose tier or the predicted failure shift the claim asserts.
“Hormesis, a dose-response relationship phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, has been frequently observed in properly designed studies and is broadly generalizable as being independent of chemical/physical agent, biological model, and endpoint measured.”
- And the inversion-edge inference: some windows have an edge at which the process reverses sign — hormesis, where very low doses are neutral, low doses beneficial, and high doses harmful, is the canonical inverting window — and spotting it changes the predicted failure from "less effective" to "actively harmful."
- Threshold
- Every threshold articulation specifies four core components, as the toxicological-threshold framework articulated by Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) makes explicit: (1) the input variable (dose, concentration, stimulus intensity, temperature, duration, load); (2) the response whose presence or absence delimits the regimes (detection, response, failure, phase change, activation); (3) the specific threshold value—fixed (e.g., a receptor's activation threshold) or population-distributed (each individual has a threshold, with population-level distribution); and (4) the mechanism underlying the threshold—receptor activation cooperativity, nucleation energy, neuron firing, material yield, critical mass.
This sourceDocuments the biphasic hormetic dose-response curve — low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition — as broadly generalizable across chemical/physical agents, biological models, and endpoints in toxicology; the biological prototype for dose-bounded overcompensation (exercise, fasting, low-dose radiation; bone, muscle, and immune remodeling) and for the controlled-dose transfer to training, immune education, and fault-injection.
- Every threshold articulation specifies four core components, as the toxicological-threshold framework articulated by Calabrese and Baldwin (2003) makes explicit: (1) the input variable (dose, concentration, stimulus intensity, temperature, duration, load); (2) the response whose presence or absence delimits the regimes (detection, response, failure, phase change, activation); (3) the specific threshold value—fixed (e.g., a receptor's activation threshold) or population-distributed (each individual has a threshold, with population-level distribution); and (4) the mechanism underlying the threshold—receptor activation cooperativity, nucleation energy, neuron firing, material yield, critical mass.
Mechanisms¶
- Dose-Response Curve Mapping
- Those figures are illustrative, but the shape is the point — it is a hormetic response,
This sourceDefines hormesis as low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition and recognizes beneficial as well as harmful responses.
- Those figures are illustrative, but the shape is the point — it is a hormetic response,
- Dose-Response Inversion Curve
- The whole picture rests on an old and literal principle: the dose makes the poison.
This sourceDefines hormesis as a dose-dependent reversal from low-dose stimulation to high-dose inhibition.
- The whole picture rests on an old and literal principle: the dose makes the poison.
- Hormetic Microdose Protocol
- Its strength is that it turns a would-be harm into a source of durable robustness by respecting the dose-response curve — the classic principle that the dose makes the poison, and that a low dose of a stressor can stimulate exactly the defense a high dose would overwhelm.
This sourceDefines hormesis as low-dose stimulation paired with high-dose inhibition, showing that biological response depends on dose.
- Its strength is that it turns a would-be harm into a source of durable robustness by respecting the dose-response curve — the classic principle that the dose makes the poison, and that a low dose of a stressor can stimulate exactly the defense a high dose would overwhelm.
Verification¶
Does it exist? Confirmed. This work's DOI resolves to a registered record, which fixes its identity. That is all it fixes.
Does it back the claim? Read against the text for 4 of 8 citations: 4 supported in part. Each verdict is shown under its citation below, with what in the work backs the sentence.
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Links previously used in the corpus¶
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