Hydrogen Gas Protects Lungs from Sepsis Damage in Lab Study

Hydrogen treatment helps protect cells and organs from damage during severe infection by enhancing a cell cleanup process called mitophagy.

Hydrogen gas protected cells and lung tissue from sepsis-related damage by activating a cellular cleanup mechanism (PINK1-mediated mitophagy) that removes damaged mitochondria.

This study investigated how hydrogen gas protects cells and lung tissue from damage caused by sepsis (a severe infection response). Using laboratory cell cultures and mice with induced sepsis, researchers found that hydrogen activated a cellular cleanup process called mitophagy (where cells remove damaged mitochondria, which are the cell's energy-producing structures). This cleanup process required a specific protein called PINK1, and when this protein was disabled, hydrogen's protective effects disappeared.

This early laboratory and animal study suggests hydrogen may help protect against sepsis-related lung injury through a specific cellular mechanism. However, this research was conducted in cell cultures and mice, not humans, so it's too early to draw conclusions about hydrogen water's effects in people with sepsis or other conditions. Much more research, including human trials, would be needed before any therapeutic claims could be made.

Background: Multiple organ failure (MOF) is the main cause of early death in septic shock. Lungs are among the organs that are affected in MOF, resulting in acute lung injury. Inflammation is an important factor that causes immune cell dysfunction in the pathogenesis of sepsis. Autophagy…

Read the full abstract on PubMed