Hydrogen Therapy Slows Aging in Stem Cells, Study Shows
- Authors
- Wenbo Zhang, Chao Huang, Aijun Sun, Liang Qiao, Xi Zhang, Junlong Huang, Xuejun Sun, Xiangqun Yang, Shanquan Sun
- Journal
- Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
- Year
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.07.020
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Cellular Senescence
- Body System
- Musculoskeletal
TL;DR
Hydrogen treatment can slow down the aging process in rat cells, potentially offering a new way to treat age-related diseases.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich saline reduced markers of cellular aging in rat bone marrow stem cells and improved their ability to grow and differentiate, apparently by reducing reactive oxygen species and suppressing aging-related proteins p53 and p21.
Summary
Researchers gave aging rats hydrogen-rich saline and then examined their bone marrow stem cells. They found that the hydrogen treatment reduced signs of cellular aging in these stem cells, improved their ability to multiply and develop into different cell types, and lowered levels of harmful molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) and aging-related proteins. The study suggests hydrogen may slow down cellular aging through a specific biological pathway.
Practical Takeaway
This rat study provides early evidence that hydrogen may help slow cellular aging at the molecular level. However, this is animal research only, and it's unclear whether these effects would occur in humans or whether they would translate to meaningful health benefits. Much more research, including human studies, would be needed before drawing conclusions about hydrogen water's anti-aging potential.
Abstract
Senescence has become a hot point issue in recent decades and requires urgent attention. As a novel and effective antioxidant, hydrogen has been proved to alleviate cellular senescence in endothelial cells in vitro. However, the effects and mechanisms of hydrogen on senescence in vivo are still unclear. In the present study, 12-month-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were intraperitoneal administration of hydrogen-rich saline (HRS, 10 ml/kg). Subsequently, bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) were harvested for the detection of hydrogen antisenescence effects and mechanisms. The results showed that the number of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) positive cells was reduced in BMSCs from rats treated with HRS. BMSCs in rats treated with HRS possessed a better proliferation ability, showed more effectively tri-lineage differentiation potential, and had less percentage of cells in G1 cell cycle arrest than the control cells. Additionally, HRS administration inhibited the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and decreased the expression of senescence-related proteins p53 and p21. Our results revealed that hydrogen could alleviate cellular senescence in vivo. And the underlying mechanism of antisenescence effects of hydrogen in BMSCs was via the ROS/p53/p21 signaling pathway. Thus, hydrogen could be a new and convenient strategy for alleviating senescence and for therapy of age-related diseases.