Hydrogen Gas Shows Promise as Therapy for Respiratory Diseases
- Authors
- Simin Jiang, Haijie Chen, Pu Shen, Yumou Zhou, Qiaoyu Li, Jing Zhang, Yahong Chen
- Journal
- Antioxidants & Redox Signaling
- Year
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1089/ars.2023.0410
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Asthma
- Body System
- Respiratory
TL;DR
Scientists found that tiny gas molecules our bodies naturally make—like nitric oxide and hydrogen sulfide—can help doctors diagnose lung diseases like asthma and COVID-19, and these gases might even be used as treatments to help sick lungs heal. This matters because it could give doctors a whole new way to fight serious breathing problems.
Key Finding
Gasotransmitters including hydrogen gas show promise as both biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring respiratory diseases and as therapeutic agents, with recent advances in drug delivery methods enhancing their potential clinical applications.
Summary
This review article examines gasotransmitters—small gas molecules naturally produced by the body that have specific biological roles—and their potential in treating respiratory diseases like asthma, COPD, and lung infections. The article discusses how gasotransmitters such as hydrogen gas, nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide can be measured in exhaled breath to help diagnose diseases and track their severity, and how new drug formulations are being developed to harness their protective effects on cells.
Practical Takeaway
While this is a review article rather than original research, it suggests that hydrogen gas and other gasotransmitters may have future therapeutic roles in respiratory disease management. However, this is an early-stage overview of the field, and substantial additional research is needed before any clinical applications can be established for hydrogen-based treatments in humans.
Abstract
Significance: Gasotransmitters are small gas molecules that are endogenously generated and have well-defined physiological functions. The most well-defined gasotransmitters currently are nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), while other potent gasotransmitters include ammonia, methane, cyanide, hydrogen gas, and sulfur dioxide. Gasotransmitters play a role in various respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, obstructive sleep apnoea, lung infection, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia, and COVID-19. Recent advances: Gasotransmitters can act as biomarkers that facilitate disease diagnosis, indicate disease severity, predict disease exacerbation and evaluate disease outcomes. They also have cell-protective properties that many studies have been conducted to explore their pharmacological applications. Innovative drug donors and drug delivery methods have been invented to amplify their therapeutic effects. Critical issues: In this article, we briefly reviewed the physiological and pathophysiological function of some gasotransmitters in the respiratory system, the progress in detecting exhaled gasotransmitters, as well as innovative drugs derived from these molecules. Future directions: the current challenge for gasotransmitter research includes further exploring their physiological and pathological function, clarifying their complicated interactions, exploring suitable drug donors and delivery devices, and characterizing new members of gasotransmitters.