Hydrogen + Clove Oil Combo Reduces Anxiety and Depression in Mice
- Authors
- Wei-Wen Sung, Tsung-Ming Yeh, Wen-Ling Shih
- Journal
- BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
- Year
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12906-024-04682-0
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Taiwan
- Health Condition
- Anxiety Disorders
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
A combination of clove essential oil and hydrogen inhalation can reduce anxiety, depression, and memory problems in mice caused by inflammation.
Key Finding
In mice with inflammation-induced psychological symptoms, combining clove essential oil with hydrogen gas inhalation produced greater improvements in anxiety, depression, and memory than either treatment alone.
Summary
Researchers gave mice a substance that causes inflammation and then tested whether clove essential oil and hydrogen gas (either separately or together) could reduce anxiety, depression, and memory problems. Both treatments alone helped improve these symptoms, but the combination of both treatments worked better than either one alone. Tests of brain tissue showed that the combined treatment reduced inflammation and oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules).
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study only—it has not been tested in humans. While the results suggest that hydrogen combined with clove oil may have anti-inflammatory effects on the brain, it is far too early to draw conclusions about whether this combination would help people with anxiety, depression, or memory problems. Human clinical trials would be needed to determine if these findings apply to people.
Abstract
Background: Psychological anxiety and depression, as well as memory impairment, are frequently linked to inflammation. Clove essential oil (CEO) administration and hydrogen (H2) inhalation have been proven to have anti-inflammatory and alleviating effects on related psychological disorders in the past. The current study investigated the potential to improve anxiety-like behaviors and cognitive function by a combination of CEO and H2 treatment. Methods: The mice were administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to induce inflammation and oxidative stress response and cause psychological disorders. Using this animal model, we conducted experiments to test whether essential oil and H2 inhalation could improve the psychological damage in behavior caused by LPS. Subsequently, elevated plus maze (EPM), forced swimming test (FST), and passive avoidance (PA) test were performed for evaluation of mice anxiety, depression, and response to electric shock, respectively. Furthermore, the biochemical analysis was used to examine the expression levels of inflammatory and oxidative stress markers. Results: Our results showed that CEO administration and H2 inhalation alone or in combination positively improved inflammation-induced anxiety, depression, and cognitive memory deficits in the mice. In the single treatment groups, CEO demonstrated better results than H2 inhalation in the elevated plus maze, forced swimming, and passive avoidance tests, while combined treatment with both provided a further improved enhancement effect. Biochemical analysis of the cerebral cortex revealed that CEO and H2 therapy reversed the LPS-induced inflammation and oxidative stress response. Conclusions: Our results suggest that a combination of CEO and H2 has the potential to treat psychological disorders or neuropsychiatric disorders.