Hydrogen Water Protects Vision in Mice with Genetic Eye Disease
- Authors
- Tsutomu Igarashi, Ikuroh Ohsawa, Maika Kobayashi, Kai Miyazaki, Toru Igarashi, Shuhei Kameya, Asaka Lee Shiozawa, Yasuhiro Ikeda, Yoshitaka Miyagawa, Mashito Sakai, Takashi Okada, Iwao Sakane, Hiroshi Takahashi
- Journal
- Scientific Reports
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41598-022-17903-8
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Retinitis Pigmentosa
- Body System
- Visual
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water may help delay eye damage in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye disease with no current treatment.
Key Finding
Mice that drank hydrogen-enriched water showed significantly thicker retinas, preserved light-sensing cells, and increased expression of genes related to vision compared to untreated controls.
Summary
Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited eye disease that causes progressive vision loss with no current treatment. Researchers gave hydrogen-enriched water to mice with a form of this disease and found that the mice had thicker retinas, better-preserved light-sensing cells, and increased activity of genes involved in vision compared to control mice. This suggests hydrogen water may help protect against photoreceptor (light-sensing cell) death.
Practical Takeaway
This is early, animal-only research showing hydrogen water may have protective effects on retinal cells. While the findings are promising for a disease with no current treatment, much more research—including human studies—would be needed before any therapeutic claims could be made. The study duration and exact dosing details were not reported, limiting what can be concluded about practical application.
Abstract
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetically heterogeneous group of inherited retinal disorders involving the progressive dysfunction of photoreceptors and the retinal pigment epithelium, for which there is currently no treatment. The rd6 mouse is a natural model of autosomal recessive retinal degeneration. Given the known contributions of oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) and selective inhibition of potent ROS peroxynitrite and OH·by H2 gas we have previously demonstrated, we hypothesized that ingestion of H2 water may delay the progression of photoreceptor death in rd6 mice. H2 mice showed significantly higher retinal thickness as compared to controls on optical coherence tomography. Histopathological and morphometric analyses revealed higher thickness of the outer nuclear layer for H2 mice than controls, as well as higher counts of opsin red/green-positive cells. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of differentially expressed genes in the H2 group versus control group revealed 1996 genes with significantly different expressions. Gene and pathway ontology analysis showed substantial upregulation of genes responsible for phototransduction in H2 mice. Our results show that drinking water high in H2 (1.2-1.6 ppm) had neuroprotective effects and inhibited photoreceptor death in mice, and suggest the potential of H2 for the treatment of RP.