Hydrogen Water Protects Brain Cells from Oxidative Damage
- Authors
- Taichi Kashiwagi, Hanxu Yan, Takeki Hamasaki, Tomoya Kinjo, Noboru Nakamichi, Kiichiro Teruya, Shigeru Kabayama, Sanetaka Shirahata
- Journal
- Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
- Year
- 2014
- DOI
- 10.1155/2014/869121
- Study Type
- Cell Culture
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Neurodegenerative Disorders
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Drinking a type of water with special properties, called electrochemically reduced water (ERW), can help protect brain cells from damage caused by harmful molecules linked to aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
Key Finding
Electrochemically reduced water significantly protected multiple types of nerve cells from damage caused by reactive oxygen species, with the protective effect attributed to dissolved hydrogen and platinum nanoparticles in the water.
Summary
This laboratory study tested whether electrochemically reduced water (water treated with electricity to add hydrogen and tiny platinum particles) could protect nerve cells from damage caused by harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species. Researchers exposed several types of rat nerve cells to this special water and then exposed them to damaging chemicals. The treated water reduced cell death, decreased harmful molecules inside cells, and protected nerve networks from damage.
Practical Takeaway
While this cell-culture study suggests hydrogen-enriched water may have nerve-protective properties, it is very early-stage research conducted only in laboratory dishes, not in living organisms or humans. Much more research would be needed to determine whether these effects would occur in the human brain or provide any benefit for age-related brain conditions.
Abstract
Aging-related neurodegenerative disorders are closely associated with mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stresses and their incidence tends to increase with aging. Brain is the most vulnerable to reactive species generated by a higher rate of oxygen consumption and glucose utilization compared to other organs. Electrochemically reduced water (ERW) was demonstrated to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) in several cell types. In the present study, the protective effect of ERW against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and nitric oxide (NO) was investigated in several rodent neuronal cell lines and primary cells. ERW was found to significantly suppress H2O2(50–200 μM) induced PC12 and SFME cell deaths. ERW scavenged intracellular ROS and exhibited a protective effect against neuronal network damage caused by 200 μM H2O2in N1E-115 cells. ERW significantly suppressed NO-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells despite the fact that it did not have the ability to scavenge intracellular NO. ERW significantly suppressed both glutamate induced Ca2+influx and the resulting cytotoxicity in primary cells. These results collectively demonstrated for the first time that ERW protects several types of neuronal cells by scavenging ROS because of the presence of hydrogen and platinum nanoparticles dissolved in ERW.