Molecular hydrogen (H2)
Molecular hydrogen (H2) is a tasteless and odorless gas and has demonstrated various biological and therapeutic effects on many diseases, from acute illnesses, including ischemia–reperfusion injury, to chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative, and metabolic diseases. H2 is non-toxic even when used at high concentrations and rapidly crosses different tissue barriers, including blood–brain barriers, and penetrates various organelles. H2 is interferes with reactive oxygen species (ROS) in living systems, a characteristic that supports its well-established antioxidant functions that lead to its frequent use to treat diseases associated with oxidative stress.
Molecular hydrogen is applied in therapeutics through various delivery routes, including hydrogen inhalation (HI), oral administration of hydrogen-rich water (HRW) or hydrogen tablets, and hydrogen-saturated saline injections. The concentration of H2 in tissues after exogenous supply depends on the type of organ and the H2 delivery route. Liver is the organ that accumulates more exogenous H2, which appears to significantly affect its homeostasis. H2 protected the liver against various acute and chronic injuries in animal models by suppressing excessive oxidative stress, inflammation, and cell death. In addition to liver, preventive and therapeutic effects were obtained for H2 in various animal experiments of disease model and clinical trials in humans. The preventive aspect of H2 in disease models, its antioxidant effects, its function in aging, among many others, are paving the way for the use of H2 in healthy people to improve body performance or as a preventive therapeutic strategy.
In a recent clinical trial that was evaluated in a cohort of young and healthy people, the effects of inhaling 4% H2 20 min per day for 7 days on exercise performance revealed ergogenic properties such as improved running performance and torso strength. Although Sim M. and colleagues had reported the beneficial effect of H2 inhalation on the increase of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory response in healthy adults, other groups found that H2 only reduced delayed-onset muscle soreness after running downhill or improved muscle function during exercise without any effect on blood oxidative markers. These data suggest that still little is known about H2 performance under healthy conditions and therefore requires further research. As part of an effort to provide more data to help better understand the therapeutic functions attributed to the biological activities of H2 in health conditions, our laboratory has initiated a study that evaluated the effect of long-term (6 months) hydrogen intervention on the physiological function of healthy rats. The study found that H2 induces a time-dependent alteration of different biochemical parameters, among which liver injury markers such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and total bile acid (TBA) were significantly reduced in the serum of H2-treated rats, suggesting that liver physiology and functions could be positively affected by prolonged exposure to H2. In the present study, we used transcriptomic and metabolomic approaches coupled with biochemistry and micro-CT techniques to access the global effects of long-term H2 treatment on the liver and its relationship with body conditions.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-07710-6
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