Can hydrogen therapy help treat sepsis?

This study suggests hydrogen therapy may help treat sepsis by reducing inflammation and organ damage. When combined with propofol, hydrogen-rich saline significantly improved survival rates and reduced inflammatory markers in septic mice.

What did this study find about combining hydrogen with propofol?

The combination therapy achieved 55% survival at 7 days compared to 0% in untreated septic mice. It also significantly reduced inflammatory molecules and tissue damage in multiple organs better than either treatment alone.

How does hydrogen therapy reduce inflammation in sepsis?

Hydrogen acts as a selective antioxidant, reducing harmful oxidative stress and inflammatory responses. This study showed it decreased key inflammatory markers like TNF-α, IL-1β, and HMGB1 in blood and organs.

Is hydrogen therapy safe for sepsis patients?

While this mouse study showed no adverse effects, human safety data is limited. More research is needed before hydrogen therapy can be recommended for sepsis patients in clinical settings.

How much hydrogen therapy was used in this study?

Researchers gave mice 5 mL/kg of hydrogen-rich saline injected into the abdomen at 1 and 6 hours after sepsis induction. Human dosing would need to be determined through clinical trials.

Hydrogen + Propofol Combo Improves Sepsis Survival in Mice

Authors: Yunchuan Hong, Hongguang Chen, Yonghao Yu, Ke-Liang Xie
Journal: Chinese Critical Care Medicine
Year: 2017
DOI: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.2095-4352.2017.04.006
Study Type: Mouse
Outcome: Positive
Peer Reviewed: Yes
Country: China
Health Condition: Sepsis
Body System: Immune System

TL;DR

Combining the anesthetic propofol with hydrogen gas significantly improves survival and reduces inflammation in mice with sepsis.

Key Finding

In septic mice, combining propofol and hydrogen-rich saline improved 7-day survival to 55% compared to 40% with propofol alone and 40% with hydrogen alone, while also reducing inflammatory markers and organ tissue damage more effectively than either treatment individually.

Summary

Researchers tested whether combining two treatments—propofol (a sedative drug) and hydrogen-rich saline (salt water containing dissolved hydrogen)—could help mice survive sepsis, a life-threatening infection response. In mice with induced sepsis, the combination treatment improved survival rates and reduced inflammatory markers (immune signaling molecules) and tissue damage in the lungs, liver, and kidneys compared to either treatment alone.

Practical Takeaway

This is an early-stage mouse study showing that hydrogen-rich saline combined with propofol may help reduce inflammation and organ damage in sepsis. However, these results cannot be directly applied to humans yet—animal studies often don't translate to human benefit, and propofol is a prescription medication requiring medical supervision. Further research in humans would be needed to determine if hydrogen-rich saline has any role in sepsis treatment.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effect of combining propofol with hydrogen on organ damage and inflammation of sepsis in cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) mice model. Methods: One hundred and forty male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into groups (n = 28): sham group, CLP group, propofol group, H2 group, and propofol and H2 group. The sepsis was induced by CLP operation. Mice in sham group did the same operation with ligation and puncture. The mice of propofol group and propofol and H2 group were given 50 mg/kg propofol through tail vein at 1 hour and 6 hours after CLP and the mice of H2 group and propofol and H2 group were given 5 mL/kg H2-rich saline i.p. at 1 hour and 6 hours after CLP. The survival rates were observed during 7 days in twenty mice of each group. Inferior vena cava blood and part lung, liver and kidney tissue were collected for detection of the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) at 24 hours after CLP in the 40 animals left (each n = 8). Then, the rest tissue of lung, liver and kidney tissue were harvested to test histopathology and histological score. Results: The 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 days survival rate of septic mice were 80%, 40%, 20%, 10%, and 0%, respectively. The survival rate of animals increased significantly after propofol or hydrogen-rich treatment, and the combined treatment can further increase survival rate to 90%, 75%, 60%, 55%, and 55%, respectively. Compared with the sham group, inflammatory factors were significantly increased in blood and organ tissues, cell degeneration, necrosis, congestion and inflammatory cell infiltration in lung, liver and kidney, and tissues histological scores were significantly increased. The levels of inflammatory factors were reduced in blood and tissues, cell degeneration, necrosis, congestion and inflammatory cell infiltration were alleviated in lung, liver and kidney, and tissues histological scores were decreased after propofol or hydrogen-rich treatment compared with CLP group; these indicators were further improved in propofol and H2 group compared with propofol group or H2 group [2, 3, 5, 7-day survival rate: 75% vs. 60%, 65%; 60% vs. 50%, 50%; 55% vs. 45%, 40%; 55% vs. 40%, 40%; blood TNF-α (ng/L): 367±74 vs. 612±132, 588±117; blood IL-1β (ng/L): 321±68 vs. 502±95, 476±86; blood HMGB1 (μg/L): 4.6±0.9 vs. 7.0±1.4, 6.8±1.3; lung TNF-α (ng/g): 307±70 vs. 512±132, 488±102; lung IL-1β (ng/g): 367±77 vs. 571±108, 466±89; lung HMGB1 (μg/g): 5.1±1.0 vs. 7.8±1.7, 7.1±1.5; liver TNF-α (ng/g): 247±57 vs. 431±112, 389±87; liver IL-1β (ng/g): 267±58 vs. 417±85, 399±76; liver HMGB1 (μg/g): 4.2±1.1 vs. 7.1±1.6, 6.6±1.2; kidney TNF-α (ng/g): 257±41 vs. 480±89, 448±82; kidney IL-1β (ng/g): 258±39 vs. 409±68, 411±66; kidney HMGB1 (μg/g): 3.9±0.7 vs. 6.8±1.2, 5.7±1.0; histological scores: lung: 1.22±0.28 vs. 2.61±0.49, 2.58±0.44; liver: 1.38±0.32 vs. 2.76±0.51, 2.62±0.46; kidney: 1.19±0.25 vs. 2.43±0.41, 2.36±0.40; all P < 0.05]. Conclusions: Both propofol and H2 can improve the survival rate of sepsis, reduce tissue damage and the release of cytokines, and combined application of the two treatment was better.