Hydrogen Water Prevents Chemo Side Effects in Mice
- Authors
- Ignacio Martinez-Martel, Olga Pol
- Journal
- Antioxidants
- Year
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.3390/antiox12122063
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Spain
- Health Condition
- Cisplatin-Induced Neuropathy
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water (HRW) may help prevent nerve pain and emotional distress caused by the chemotherapy drug cisplatin in mice.
Key Finding
In mice, prophylactic treatment with hydrogen-rich water prevented cisplatin-induced nerve pain, anxiety, depression-like behaviors, and physical weakness by reducing inflammatory and oxidative responses in nerve and brain tissues.
Summary
Cisplatin is a chemotherapy drug that causes painful nerve damage, anxiety, depression, and muscle weakness in patients. Researchers gave mice cisplatin and treated some with hydrogen-rich water (water infused with hydrogen gas) before the drug was administered. The hydrogen-rich water prevented nerve pain, reduced anxiety and depression-like behaviors, and prevented muscle weakness and weight loss in both male and female mice, possibly by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules) in nerve and brain tissues.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study showing hydrogen-rich water may help protect against cisplatin side effects. However, these results are from mice only and do not yet demonstrate safety or effectiveness in humans. Much more research, including human clinical trials, would be needed before hydrogen-rich water could be considered a viable treatment for chemotherapy side effects.
Abstract
Patients undergoing chemotherapy with cisplatin (CIS) develop neuropathy in addition to other symptoms such as, anxiety, depression, muscle wasting and body weight loss. This symptomatology greatly weakens patients and may even lead to adjournment of chemotherapy. The protecting actions of molecular hydrogen in many neurological illnesses have been described, but its effect on the functional and emotional deficiencies caused by CIS has not been assessed. In C57BL/6J male and female mice injected with CIS, we examined the impact of the prophylactic treatment with hydrogen-rich water (HRW) on: (i) the tactile and cold allodynia, (ii) the deficits of grip strength and weight loss, (iii) the anxiodepressive-like behaviors and (iv) the inflammatory and oxidative reactions incited by CIS in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and prefrontal cortex (PFC). The results demonstrate that the mechanical allodynia and the anxiodepressive-like comportment provoked by CIS were similarly manifested in both sexes, whereas the cold allodynia, grip strength deficits and body weight loss produced by this chemotherapeutic agent were greater in female mice. Nonetheless, the prophylactic treatment with HRW prevented the allodynia and the functional and emotional impairments resulting from CIS in both sexes. This treatment also inhibited the inflammatory and oxidative responses activated by CIS in the DRG and PFC in both sexes, which might explain the therapeutic actions of HRW in male and female mice. In conclusion, this study revealed the plausible use of HRW as a new therapy for the allodynia and physical and mental impairments linked with CIS and its possible mechanism of action.