Hydrogen Water Protects Against Lung Damage from Paraquat Poisoning
- Authors
- Shulin Liu, Kan Liu, Qiang Sun, Wenwu Liu, Weigang Xu, Petar Denoble, Hengyi Tao, Xue-Jun Sun
- Journal
- BioMed Research International
- Year
- 2011
- DOI
- 10.1155/2011/305086
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Acute Lung Injury
- Body System
- Respiratory
TL;DR
Drinking water with high levels of dissolved hydrogen gas can reduce lung damage caused by exposure to the toxic chemical paraquat in rats.
Key Finding
Rats that consumed hydrogen water before paraquat exposure showed significantly reduced lung injury and oxidative damage compared to rats exposed to paraquat alone.
Summary
Researchers tested whether hydrogen water (regular water with dissolved hydrogen gas) could protect rats from lung damage caused by paraquat, a toxic chemical. Rats that drank hydrogen water and were exposed to paraquat showed less lung damage and fewer signs of oxidative stress (cellular damage from harmful molecules) compared to rats that only received paraquat. The hydrogen water appeared to reduce the chemical and tissue changes that paraquat caused in the lungs.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study suggesting hydrogen water may help protect against paraquat-induced lung damage, but it cannot yet tell us whether this would work in humans. Much more research, including human clinical trials, would be needed before hydrogen water could be considered a treatment for paraquat poisoning or acute lung injury in people.
Abstract
Exposure to paraquat leads to acute lung injury and oxidative stress is widely accepted as a contributor to paraquat-induced acute lung injury. Recent studies have reported that consumption of water with dissolved molecular hydrogen to a saturated level (hydrogen water) prevents oxidative stress-induced diseases. Here, we investigated whether consumption of saturated hydrogen saline protects rats against paraquat-induced acute lung injury. Adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: Control group; hydrogen water-only group (HW group); paraquat-only group (PQ group); paraquat and hydrogen water group (PQ + HW group). The rats in control group and HW group drank pure water or hydrogen water; the rats in PQ group and PQ + HW group were intraperitonealy injected with paraquat (35 mg/kg) and then provided pure water or hydrogen water. Both biochemical and histological lung alterations were measured. The results showed that hydrogen water ameliorated these alterations, demonstrating that hydrogen water alleviated paraquat-induced acute lung injury possibly by inhibition of oxidative damage.