Stebbing A R
Health Phys. 1987 May;52(5):543-7. doi: 10.1097/00004032-198705000-00003.
Data from experiments, in which colonies of a hydroid, Laomedea flexuosa, were exposed to a range of Cu2+ concentrations and a marine yeast, Rhodotorula rubra, was exposed to a range of Cd2+ concentrations, not only exhibit hormesis, but also suggest how its occurrence in growth experiments might be explained. When growth data are considered as normalized specific rates against a time base, their oscillatory form indicates the output of a growth regulatory mechanism whose behaviour can be used to interpret the typical concentration-response curve exhibiting hormesis. Advantages may be conferred upon organisms whose growth control mechanisms overcorrect in response to low levels of inhibitory loading by toxic agents (stimulus), while at higher concentrations it is the overloading of such control mechanisms that results in the threshold in concentration-response curves (inhibition). It is suggested that if different examples of hormesis share a common explanation, it lies in the behaviour of homeostatic and homeorhetic feedback mechanisms, which respond to perturbation non-specifically and may overcorrect for adaptive reasons to low levels of inhibitory challenge.
在实验中，水螅Laomedea flexuosa的群体暴露于一系列铜离子浓度下，海洋酵母红酵母Rhodotorula rubra暴露于一系列镉离子浓度下，实验数据不仅显示出毒物兴奋效应，还表明了在生长实验中该效应的发生方式可以得到解释。当将生长数据视为相对于时间基准的归一化特定速率时，其振荡形式表明了一种生长调节机制的输出，该机制的行为可用于解释呈现毒物兴奋效应的典型浓度-反应曲线。对于那些生长控制机制因低水平的有毒物质抑制负荷（刺激）而过度校正的生物体来说，可能会赋予其优势，而在较高浓度下，正是这种控制机制的过载导致了浓度-反应曲线中的阈值（抑制）。有人提出，如果毒物兴奋效应的不同例子有一个共同的解释，那就是体内平衡和体内稳态反馈机制的行为，它们对扰动的反应是非特异性的，并且可能出于适应性原因对低水平的抑制性挑战进行过度校正。
