Hydrogen Therapy Fails to Help Stroke Recovery in Rats
- Authors
- Satoru Takeuchi, Kimihiro Nagatani, Naoki Otani, Kojiro Wada, Kentaro Mori
- Journal
- Turkish Neurosurgery
- Year
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.14098-15.1
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Neutral
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Intracerebral Hemorrhage
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Hydrogen treatment did not improve brain swelling or recovery in rats after a brain hemorrhage.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas and hydrogen-rich saline reduced a marker of oxidative stress in the brain but failed to reduce brain swelling or improve functional recovery in rats with intracerebral hemorrhage.
Summary
Researchers tested whether hydrogen could protect the brain after a type of stroke caused by bleeding inside the brain. They gave hydrogen to rats with this type of injury for 3 days and measured brain swelling, brain damage markers, and how well the rats recovered. While hydrogen did reduce one marker of cellular damage, it did not reduce brain swelling or improve the rats' recovery compared to rats that didn't receive hydrogen.
Practical Takeaway
This rat study suggests that hydrogen alone may not be effective for treating brain bleeding injuries, despite its theoretical ability to reduce cellular damage. Since this is an animal study and only tested hydrogen without other treatments, results may not apply to humans, and more research would be needed before drawing conclusions about hydrogen's usefulness in this context.
Abstract
Aim: Increasing evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species damage the blood-brain barrier and increase brain edema after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Recently, strong clinical and experimental evidence has shown that hydrogen has potent protective cellular effects in various diseases. However, the effect of hydrogen on ICH remains unclear. The present study investigates whether hydrogen has neuroprotective effects and improves functional outcome in the rat ICH model. Material and methods: ICH model was generated by injecting 50 μl autologous tail artery blood stereotactically into the right caudate nucleus of Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham, ICH/vehicle, ICH/hydrogen gas, and ICH/hydrogen-rich saline groups. Hydrogen treatment was performed for 3 days. The evaluation of functional outcome was done before, and at 24 and 72 hours after ICH. Hemorrhage volume, immunohistochemistry for 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and brain water content were evaluated at 72 hours after ICH. Results: Hydrogen administration reduced the expression of 8-OHdG in the brain, but did not attenuate brain water content or improve functional outcome, regardless of administration route. Conclusion: Hydrogen administration without surgery has no neuroprotective effect in the blood injection rat ICH model.