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BioSystems 109 (2012) 126132

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BioSystems
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biosystems

Biostructural theory of the living systems


Manuela Murariu a , Gabi Drochioiu b,
a b

Petru Poni Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, 41A Grigore Ghica Voda Alee, Iasi, 700487, Romania Biochemistry Group, Faculty of Chemistry, Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi, 11 Carol I, Iasi, 700506, Romania

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Eugen Macovschi is among the few scientists who tried, and partly succeeded, to explain the differences between dead and living in biological sciences. He discovered and characterized the so-called biostructure of the living bodies and worked out a biostructural theory, which is the rst supramolecular conception in biology. Nevertheless, complex biological systems are currently considered only from the molecular point of view, although they may be regarded as specic phenomena on highly structured bodies within the four-dimensional Universe. According to Macovschi, the biostructure provides organisms with life properties and controls their life processes and chemical changes. Nevertheless, plant cells or bacterial ones differ much from the animal or human cells. In fact, there are various biostructures which are related with cell properties. Hence, this theory creates confusions and cannot be easily used to explain all the properties of the biosystems. Consequently, it is our goal to highlight the principles, advantages, limitations, and applications of the biostructural theory, which might support new ideas and theories in modern life sciences. 2012 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

Article history: Received 21 July 2011 Received in revised form 24 January 2012 Accepted 21 February 2012 Keywords: Biosystems Structural levels The biostructural theory A structural-phenomenological conception

1. Introduction Since 1958, Eugen Macovschi (19061985), a Romanian biologist and chemist, has asserted that the living organisms possess another form of differently structured matter giving them living features (Macovschi, 1969, 1976). He named it biostructure, and this kind of biological structure is present within the living cell together with the well-known molecular substances and solutions. Starting from the relationship between structure and properties in chemistry, he conceived living features as related to a biological structure in living cells and organisms. On using just a laboratory press he was able to demonstrate the presence of so-called biostructure or biostructured matter in the living cells, which is a supramolecular biosystem responsible for the living features. Unfortunately, most biologists have no idea about the biostructure or the biostructural theory because Macovschis experiments and concepts were mostly published in Romanian and Russian. Besides, the few articles published in French or English appeared in journals of national or local interest, such as Revue Roumaine de Biochimie. It is known that the living organisms consist of chemical combinations and these latter of molecules. Hence, it follows the belief that in vivo the molecules have the main role. However, according to Macovschis theory, living matter consists of two qualitatively distinct and interdependent forms that

are mutually transforming one into another: biostructured matter (biostructure) the living matter itself and coexistent molecular matter (chemical combinations) a non-living matter (Macovschi, 1981a). Numerous physicochemical theories have been advanced by now to explain the nature of the living matter such as membrane theory (Offner, 1970), sorption (Troschin, 1968) and associationinduction (Ling, 1994, 1998) theories. The membrane theory was formulated by the German neurophysiologist J. Bernstein in 1902 and developed by the British scientists P. Boyle and E. Conway in 1941 and A. Hodgkin, B. Katz, and A. Huxley in 1949 (Bernstein, 1912; Hodgkin and Huxley, 1952; Hodgkin and Katz, 1949a, 1949b). They have become parts of the so-called molecular conception, which was proved to be very promising to help the biological studies up to the intracellular and molecular level. However, the modern biology developed in the light of the molecular conception has not yet succeeded to give a satisfactory explanation to the problem of the nature of the living matter, to its qualitative specic character. It cannot make the difference between dead and living. Moreover, these theories were not comprehensive enough for all of the experimental data acquired of late in life sciences. 2. The biostructural theory Macovschi and his co-workers started from the observation that after exposing to 200 atm hydrostatic pressure, the tissues remain alive, and if their life depends on the biostructure integrity,

Corresponding author. E-mail address: gabidr@uaic.ro (G. Drochioiu). 0303-2647/$ see front matter 2012 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2012.02.006

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Fig. 1. The living tissues remain alive after exposure to 200 atm hydrostatic pressure; if their life depends on the biostructure integrity, then the biostructured matter can stand rather high hydrostatic pressures without breakdown, i.e. without releasing the water it comprises (Macovschi, 1979b).

it means that the biostructured matter can stand rather high hydrostatic pressures without breakdown, i.e. without releasing its content of water. He called this kind of water as biostructured water. By pressing-out the living tissues, only the free water and the substances dissolved in it are removed in the form of sap (Fig. 1). In case of dead tissue the situation is quite different. On killing the tissues, the biostructured matter breaks down and the biostructured water becomes free water. The newly formed free water together with the existing free water in the living tissue before killing can be removed at high pressure. Therefore, the dead tissue contains more free water and yields more sap by pressing-out than the living tissue. After removing the free water from a living tissue, the remaining residue will contain biostructured matter and bound water. The killing of this residue leads to biostructure breakdown and loss of biostructured water (Macovschi, 1980a). Therefore, by killing the residue a new quantity of free water, corresponding to the released biostructured water appears, and, therefore, by pressing-out the killed residue yields a new quantity of sap (plasmatic sap). The bound water is removed only by heating over 100 C. Under these circumstances, it is clear that the residue left after removing the free water by pressing-out of the living biological material cannot yield a new quantity of sap by a subsequent pressing-out, as there is no other free water in the tissue. The biostructured matter may be compared with a sponge (the biostructure) lled with water, this last one being the corresponding part of the coexistent molecular matter (Macovschi, 1969). The biostructure shows a specic organization, characteristic to the living matter; it has a higher development and organization; it is the bearer of the biological features that are assigned to the living it belongs to. Hence, the living matter (cytoplasm ground substance) has a structure, which is spongy, and the skeletal part of this structure consists of biostructured matter, whereas the interstitial part is lled with molecular solution. There is molecular matter within both living and non living bodies in the surrounding environment (Macovschi, 1983). The physicochemical laws dominate at this level and the systems react to the external environment conditions. The external forces also act upon the molecular matter in the living body. However, they act not directly, but together with the internal forces generated by the biostructure, whose integrity is supported by the energy produced by metabolism.

2.1. The breakdown of the biostructure Cellular biostructure provides cells with life properties and controls their vital processes and chemical changes (Galavina, 2008). The biostructure shows a remarkable characteristic of partially and reversibly breaking down, under the inuence of a wide variety of factors (Macovschi, 1981a). This process may be produced by metabolic inhibitors (such as sodium azide or dinitrophenols), heat, electrical stimulation, ultraviolet irradiation, or may occur spontaneously under various physiological, pathological and experimental conditions, including non specic and nervous irritation (stress) (Macovschi, 1976). The partial breakdown results into the release, under molecular state, of the components of the outer layers of the biostructure (water, chemical compounds, enzymes, ions). Thus, the compound concentrations, biochemical processes, bioelectrical potential, permeability, etc. are all altered. The deeper layer of the biostructure, with originally inactive enzymes, are consequently disclosed and brought into contact with the coexisting molecular matter, resulting into alteration of the cellular behavior. The components of biostructure are released, becoming simple molecules when the protoplasm dies. In this case, the biostructure is breaking down and the biostructured matter is transforming into usual non-living matter. The intracellular solution consists of water and water-soluble substances dissolved in it. This solution has a molecular containing and represents non-living matter of living. Due to its content of enzymes and other substances, this intracellular solution becomes the center of numerous biochemical reactions, some of them supplying the energy necessary for maintaining the integrity of biostructure. The biostructure may exist only together with the intracellular solution, with which it forms an indissoluble unity. The living protoplasm made up of the biostructural matter and non-living intracellular matter is fundamentally and qualitatively different from the non-living protoplasm where the biostructure exists no more. 2.2. The validity of the biostructural theory A large amount of philosophical, theoretical and experimental facts in support of this theory have been brought (Macovschi, 1980b, 1981b, 1982). First, biostructure was conceived only by the inductive and deductive thinking (Macovschi, 1969, 1976). By

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research with the laboratory hydraulic press, and by high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (Macovschi, 1969, 1981a), a large amount of indirect proofs and experimental facts in support of the biostructural theory have been brought. Finally, the high voltage electron microscopy has allowed not only taking a photo of the spongy structure of the cytoplasm ground substance, but also the investigation of certain behaviors of this structure (Galavina, 2008; Porter and Tucker, 1981). In order to check the validity of the biostructural theory, a large body of experiments were performed by various scientists using both plant (maize leaves) and animal (frog sciatic nerves) living material. Herewith, two metabolic inhibitors were tested: one organic (2,4-dinitrophenol) and the other inorganic (sodium azide), whereas as control, two chemical combinations with no inhibitory action on the biochemistry were used. Four different methods were applied, namely: the method of pressing-out, the estimation of free water, the high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance, and the spin echo nuclear magnetic resonance (Macovschi et al., 1974; Iordache, 1985). For example, the sodium azide-induced release of amino acids from the biostructure of wheat seedlings has been followed (Macovschi et al., 1974). One found that the higher is the concentration of sodium azide solution, the greater is the yield of the sap as well as its amino acid content. Under the action of metabolic inhibitors part of asparaginase is released from the biostructure. Measuring the free water from the whole leaf of plantlets as well as from cut leaves, living or previously destroyed by various methods, it was found greater and greater amounts of free water. This increase in percentage of the free water came from the enlargement of the contact surface between the foliar tissue and the saccharose solution. Besides the growth of the contact surface, the progressive destruction of the biostructure also occurs (Iordache, 1985). It was established that the heating of plant tissues brings about the appearance, respectively disappearance, of some amino acids in the sap obtained from these tissues. Under the action of metabolic inhibitors, some of the l-alanine-ketoglutarate aminotransferase in the biostructure is released. However, they have no inuence upon the activity of the enzyme (Macovschi et al., 1974). It has been found that both vacuolar and plasmatic saps have an asparaginase activity that demonstrates the presence of the asparaginase both in biostructure and in the matter outside it. Under the action of dinitrophenol, dichlorophenol, dinitronaphtol and sodium azide part of asparaginase is also released from the biostructure. The release of phosphomonoesterase from the leaves of seedlings is progressive depending on the increase in the concentration of inhibitors (Macovschi et al., 1974). The enzyme may be found both in the biostructure and in the vacuolar sap, its release being also progressive depending on the increase in the concentration of inhibitors. The behavior of biostructure from the white and red cabbage leaves heated at different temperatures was investigated, as well. It has been stated that the heating for 1 h at 40 C is sufcient to bring about a partial teasing of the biostructure, releasing water and hydrosoluble substances. The teasing was total from 60 C onwards. The biostructure from apple, pear and quince fruits when kept at room temperature seems to be not stable; after 4 days, by squeezing out the residues, they got a great amount of plasmatic sap. Consequently, the heating for 1 h at 4060 C is sufcient to bring about a partial teasing of biostructure, with subsequent water and hydrosoluble substances releasing (Iordache, 1985; Macovschi et al., 1974).

molecular biology. A content of 19% free and 61% biostructureintegrated water of rabbit striated muscle tissue have been determined using the pressing-out method (Macovschi O., 1979; neanu, 1963). The biostructured water is a Macovschi and Botos the water integrated in the biostructure of the living tissues. This kind of water has different characteristics from those of both free and bound water. For example: the biostructured water cannot be expressed from the living tissues at high pressures that allow the expression of the free water, and it is released concurrently with the death of tissues (this is the difference as compared to bound water, that is not released from the hydrophilic colloids). Far-infrared laser vibration rotation tunneling experiments on supersonically cooled clusters allow characterization of geometric structures and low-energy tunneling pathways for rearrangement of the hydrogen bond networks (Brauman, 1996). These ndings on water clusters give insight into fundamental properties of water (Liu et al., 1996). According to the present molecular thinking in biology, water occurs in both living and dead tissues under only two main states: free and bound (Macovschi, 1980a, 1981a). However, water binding to the components of the cytoskeleton could increase enormously in the excited state as compared to the ground state (Drochioiu, 2006). The NMR investigation indicated that a considerable range of hydration water dynamics is present on the protein surface. In addition, an unprecedented clustering of different hydration-dynamics classes of sites is evident (Nucci et al., 2011). Water is considered as the material which mediates the weak actions on biosystems (Burlakova et al., 2006). Crystallographic data suggest the formation of hierarchic module structures of bound water, which concur with the morphological patterns frequently observed in living organisms. The characteristics of ultra low doses of chemical substances were explained on the basis of the structural properties of water (Burlakova et al., 2006). Thus, it is believed that long living clusters are present in water itself. Alternatively, water clusters may be induced by injected biologically active substances. Clustering with solvent molecules such as up to more than 27 molecules of water has often been reported in mass spectrometric experiments (Schlosser et al., 2003). Besides, large water clusters around protons could be arguments for the hypothesis that water is a highly structured matrix (Yang and Castleman, 1989). 3.1. The biostructural theory as root research The biostructural conception has already generated new theories and hypotheses. These refer to the problems concerning the cellular permeability (Macovschi, 1980b), the memory mechanism (Macovschi, 1980a, 1981c), the relations between the drugs and enzymes or the drugs and hazardous materials, the mechanism of hormonal activity, the appearance of intracellular formations, the origin of electroencephalograph waves, the genesis of living matter on Earth (Macovschi, 1979a), ecology (Macovschi, 1980c), carcinogenesis (Macovschi, 1984a), and the allergic phenomena (Macovschi, 1972a). Since the state and behavior of organisms depend on and are conditioned by the state of their biostructured matter, it means that the investigation of biocenosis organisms at the biostructural level will point to a better knowledge of the phenomena occurring in ecosystems. Also, the biostructural theory gave information on the living matter with its specic manifestations; consequently it supports the hypothesis on the life origin (Macovschi, 1979a). Thus, the primitive biostructured matter has been formed spontaneously, with no external intervention, in the non-living prebiotic systems, in the moment when conditions were provided, by the combinations liable to be transformed into components of the biostructure, whereas the remaining unassembled combinations have formed the coexisting molecular matter.

3. The biostructured water The biostructural theory considers three water species in the living tissues, and not only two, as conceived by modern

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Fig. 2. Sodium and potassium activities in giant axons from the hindmost stellar nerve of Loligo forbesi are not the same throughout the cell suggesting a highly structured content of these cells contrary to membrane theory assertion.

The active transport of Na+ /K+ ions has been explained by means of the biostructural theory, showing that there is probably no ions pump within the living cells (Drochioiu et al., 2004). Thus, the efux and inux of potassium ions in the frog hind limb muscles and the efux of sodium ions from Sepia axons were explained taking into consideration the existence of the biostructured matter. Their content in potassium is higher than that postulated by the membrane theory (Fig. 2). Hinkes experiment was another example of data that support the biostructural theory and not the molecular theories. This experiment showed that both electric potential and sodium and potassium activities are not homogeneous in a given cell (Fig. 3).

4.1. Cancerogenesis and biostructure The biostructured matter in the cancer cell is found under an altered, abnormal state and the investigation of this state is essential for the knowledge of carcinogenesis (Macovschi, 1984a). The alterations that take place in the nonliving matter may induce certain alterations of both the composition of biostructured matter and the structure of the molecules it consists of. It results that the fundamental processes of carcinogenesis are developed at the level of the living matter (biostructure), whereas the chemical alteration in the nonliving matter are not the cause, but the effect of the neoplasm-inducing phenomena. The carcinogens alter the state of living matter acting both on the chemical components and the biostructural matter. They also exert their inuence upon the metabolic pathways acting directly on the cell enzymes, or by means of biostructured matter, i.e. by its enzyme components. Cancerogenesis is accompanied by the partial breakdown of the biostructure, leading to alteration of cell behavior. The biostructural theory of carcinogenesis asserts that DNA integrated in the biostructure and the biostructural genetic regulations are important in cancerogenesis, with unknown effects yet. The presence of nucleic acids within the biostructure as well as its capacity to partially and reversibly break down the lamentous structure of DNA allow the development of a biostructural mechanism of genetic regulation. Contrary to the molecular mechanism

4. Aging and biostructure In order to elucidate the biological cause of aging, Galavina based her experiments on the biostructural conception on the nature and structure of the living matter (Galavina, 2008). As a result, she reached the conclusion that the decrease of biostructure is a fundamental cause of aging. Alzheimer disease is also characterized by substantial shrinkage in the brain over the time (den Heijer et al., 2006; Ho rnek et al., 2007). Consequently, the role of amygdale volume in the assessment of clinical diagnosis should be investigated.

Fig. 3. Hinkes experiment supports the biostructural theory and not the molecular ones. There are gradients of potassium or sodium in the highly structured cell.

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discovered by F. Jacob and J. Monod, the biostructural mechanism involves no repressors, inductors, co-repressors, or other chemical combinations of this kind. When the DNA within the biostructure is entirely covered by other components, and it has no contact with the coexisting molecular matter, it is genetically inactive, as it is isolated from the chemical compounds it may react with. Once the biostructure starts to break down partially so that certain components or even layers are released from it, parts of the DNA component may be uncovered and come into contact with the coexisting molecular matter. The genes in these DNA fragments are activated and they may work probably according to the known molecular mechanisms. When the biostructural matter is restored and the mentioned fragments are re-covered, the gene activity is ceased. According to Macovschi, the partial breakdown of the biostructure depends particularly on the activity of cellular regulatory mechanisms so that either ones or others of the DNA genes may be genetically activated. The lattice of cancer cells is denser than that of normal cells and shows signs of a lack of normal organization, particularly an altered distribution of polysomes (Porter and Tucker, 1981). Starting with the observation that the biostructure is partially broken down during hypoxia, it was also suggested that a respiratory and pH imbalance could be found in the cancer etiology (Drochioiu, 2008). Consequently, curing cancer would mean both the destruction of the cancerous cells and the re-equilibration of the whole body. 4.2. Limits of the biostructural theory Since this theory refers to newly discovered facts and phenomena, it would have to introduce new terms. The biostructure term was already used for any structure in living cells or organisms. Therefore, other terms should be introduced to describe more accurate the new discoveries. We may consider other terms such as living system or livsys, which would be preferable to biostructure. The term biosystem may be applied to certain functional systems in the living body, but it cannot be addressed to cell biostructure. Biostructure is more than a biosystem, it is a living biosystem. Macovschis great merit is to nd something which has the property of being alive. Since two chemical compounds such as ethyl alcohol and methyl ether have different properties due to their different structures, in spite of the same chemical composition, Macoschi thought the life properties must be related to biostructure. Indeed, he demonstrated the presence of this biostructure. Nevertheless, he was not able to explain phenomena such as feelings or thinking. However, such phenomena are not part of his main theory. The biostructural theory is a comprehensive conception able to describe the biological phenomena, which develop on the biostructural matter or biostructure, different from the molecular one. Biostructural alterations result in various diseases, yet the mechanisms of these alterations remain obscure. According to the biostructural theory, a certain biostructure corresponds to a certain state of a given organism. However, it is not clear how a biostructure changes into another one. Besides, nobody knows how a healthy biostructure looks like. In addition, it is not clear how the biostructure components are integrated in the biostructure of the whole organism. 4.3. In search for the physical carrier of biostructure Savva (2006) has developed a theory of bioeld control system (BCS), stating that there is a non-electromagnetic control system of a living organism. While Macovschis cellular biostructure refers to a supramolecular structure to which a bioeld is associated, BCS is an entity, which exists only in living cells and controls chemical processes and properties of organelles and biochemical molecules,

Fig. 4. Structural levels of living organisms and their characteristics (Drochioiu, 2006).

leaving space inside the cells for solutions that are in equilibrium with intercellular liquids. Macovschis cellular Biostructure is equivalent to the cellular BCS. In BCS, the genetic information is re-encoded on something other than the biochemical physical carrier. Macovschi has properly emphasized the necessity of viewing cells, as well as the whole organism, as the most complex cybernetic systems (Savva, 2006). A cybernetic view of biostructure was advanced earlier (Niculescu-Mizil, 1981, 1982). On the other hand, BCS is the operative control system of the organism. At all levels BCS holds four fundamental programs of life: development, maintenance, reproduction, and death. Sotina (2006) has also taken into consideration a physical carrier of biostructure. According to Sotina, any living system and pre-life molecular organization have their continuation in the physical vacuum, which are structures composed of elements of a nonmolecular nature. These structures hold information and energy necessary to maintain the stability of complex organic molecules and to control biochemical processes in living organisms that are different from those observable in regular solutions. A bioeld in the physical vacuum can be considered as a type of matter, not a process. Since a structure is not matter, the biostructures composed of elements of nonmolecular mater along with unknown processes determine the behavior of molecules in a living organisms. The particles of the physical vacuum participate in the living processes (Draganescu, 2004). 4.4. A structural-phenomenological conception The biostructured matter together with the molecular one form the biosical matter, which is present within the plants and gives them its behaviors (Macovschi, 1981d). In the animal bodies, this form of matter is dependent on an upper level, the psycho structural one (Drochioiu, 2008). For this reason, the specic laws of the biostructural level act differently within the vegetable kingdom and the animal one. As Fig. 4 shows, the human being features are different from those of the animal because of the noesistructural level which should subordinate the psychical matter (Macovschi, 1981c, 1984b, 1985). Starting from the biostructural conception, which obviously have to be enlarged, a structuralphenomenological theory of mental processes and consciousness seems to be necessary (Draganescu, 2004; Tiller, 2006). Of course, the high voltage

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electron microscopy conrmed the presence of so-called microtrabecular lattice, which seems to be identical to the biostructure described by Eugen Macovschi (Porter and McNiven, 1982). However, the structural conception by Macovschi is still dependent on a materialist philosophy, which enlightens only the material aspects of the Reality, and considers only the structural information derived from the physical structures. Therefore, the biostructural theory treats best only the molecular and the biostructural aspects of the biological phenomena. A structuralphenomenological thinking considers also the time; any organism belongs to a fourdimensional universe, this one may have also four dimensions and a more complicated shape (Drochioiu, 2008). According to Draganescu, any structural information is based upon a phenomenological sense or aims to a phenomenological sense, and it comes directly or indirectly from the phenomenological information (Draganescu, 1990). A physics of living (including human mind and social processes) can be understood as a structuralphenomenological process. In the deep matter, primordial information is phenomenological; it makes possible and generate structural information and, in time, a structural universe like the one known at present-day (Draganescu, 1991). In fact, matter in our Universe is associated to a complex made of substanceenergyinformationspacetime. The brain, as entity, contains both structural and phenomenological parts, and is a substratum for the mind (Draganescu, 1991). Mind can be regarded as an instrument with the main role to compare the experiences and data using models and programs. Under these circumstances, the consciousness should be different from the mind and the latter one may highlight the existence of the consciousness. In addition, the consciousness may subordinate the mind (Drochioiu, 2008). In spite of the fact that consciousness is the most evident reality for humans, it is considered the oldest and most difcult problem facing human epistemology. Therefore, a structuralphenomenological thinking on plants, animals or humans and even their diseases should take into consideration that these may be seen as specic phenomena developed on material structures (Drochioiu, 2006, 2008). Starting from his biological theory, Macovschi also attacked dialectic materialism and mechanistical conceptions in biology and life sciences (Macovschi, 1979b). He conceived the biostructure as a cell ultra structure, which is different from notions such as biological materials, biomaterials or even biostructure assigned to materials extracted from biological materials (dead tissues) (Macovschi, 1972b). When turned toward the large Universe, he took into consideration the plurality of structures around us (Macovschi, 1979c). The biostructural conception was used to design new experiments, such as those on the origin of life (Scorei et al., 1996). However, it is difcult to explain some phenomena such as programmed cell death or the changes in bacterial biostructure within resting state bacteria. A biostructuralphenomenological approach may consider apoptosis as a phase in which the cell is no longer able to sustain life phenomenon. The biostructure is broken down beyond a certain threshold.

biological entity, which obeys biological laws, and not a chemical structure. To avoid confusions, new terms should be introduced and new experiments have to be done within the framework of the biostructural theory. The existence and integrity of biostructure depends on an inux of energy. In the living tissues treated with inhibitors of the metabolism, partial breaking down of the biostructure occurs and, consequently, the amount of free water and hydrosoluble substances increases. The biostructural theory has major advantages compared to all molecular theories in life sciences, because it relates to biological structures on which the life phenomena occur. The main limitation of the biostructural theory consists of its quartering to bio-structures that integrate only the chemical compounds. Although Macovschi has postulated the existence of a bioeld, his theory was conned only to the molecular and supramolecular structures. The biostructural conception is generating new theories and hypotheses on biological phenomena and a large body of research is needed to take advantage of Macovschis heritage. Acknowledgment Financial support by Romanian Government, Contract CNCSIS 313/2011 is gratefully acknowledged. References
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5. Concluding remarks Eugen Macovschi founded the biostructural theory based on the idea that the living state is determined by a peculiar structure. According to his conception, the living protoplasm is integrated into a particular structure, which he called biostructure and the other part is an intracellular solution. The biostructure is not a chemical or physicochemical structure, but a higher, biological, unceasingly developing structure. Hence, the biostructure is a

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