Hydrogen Water Protects Kidneys from Chemo Drug Damage in Rats
- Authors
- A Kitamura, S Kobayashi, T Matsushita, H Fujinawa, K Murase
- Journal
- The British Journal of Radiology
- Year
- 2010
- DOI
- 10.1259/bjr/25604811
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity
- Body System
- Renal
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water helped protect rats' kidneys from damage caused by a chemotherapy drug.
Key Finding
Rats given hydrogen-rich water before cisplatin injection showed significantly better kidney function markers compared to rats given standard water, with kidney filtration performance similar to healthy control rats.
Summary
Researchers tested whether hydrogen-rich water could protect rat kidneys from damage caused by cisplatin, a chemotherapy drug. Rats that drank hydrogen-rich water before and after receiving cisplatin showed better kidney function (measured by how well the kidneys filtered contrast dye and by blood creatinine levels, a marker of kidney health) compared to rats that received cisplatin without the hydrogen-rich water.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study suggesting hydrogen-rich water may help protect kidneys from cisplatin-related damage. However, these results are from rats only and have not been tested in humans, so it's too early to draw conclusions about whether this would work for cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. More research, including human studies, would be needed before any clinical recommendations could be made.
Abstract
Our aim was to assess the protective effect of hydrogen-rich water against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats using dynamic contrast-enhanced CT (DCE-CT). DCE-CT studies were performed in 30 rats (8 weeks old) on days 0, 2, 4 and 7 using multidetector row CT. The rats were divided into three groups: a control group (n = 6) with free access to standard water and without cisplatin injection, a non-treatment group (n = 12) with free access to standard water and injected with cisplatin (3.6 mg kg(-1) body weight) intraperitoneally on day 0 and a treatment group (n = 12) with free access to hydrogen-rich water starting from 7 days before cisplatin injection. The contrast clearance per unit renal volume (K(1)) was estimated from the DCE-CT data using the Patlak model. The contrast clearance of the entire kidney (K) was obtained by multiplying K(1) by the renal volume. The serum creatinine level was also measured on day 7. The K(1) and K values normalised by those on day 0 in the treatment group were significantly greater than those in the non-treatment group on days 2, 4 and 7. There were no significant differences in the normalised K value between the treatment and control groups on days 2 and 7. The serum creatinine level in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the non-treatment group and was not significantly different from that in the control group. This study demonstrated that hydrogen-rich water ameliorates renal dysfunction due to cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in rats.