Hydrogen Improved Heart Transplant Preservation in Rats
Hydrogen as additive of HTK solution fortifies myocardial preservation in grafts with prolonged cold ischemia
Research hubs: Cardiovascular System
This research was done in animals. Results in animals often don't carry over to people.
- Evidence type
- Animal study (rat)
- Authors
- Mengwei Tan, Xiangdong Sun, Long Guo, Cunhua Su, Xuejun Sun, Zhi-Yun Xu
- Journal
- International Journal of Cardiology
- Year
- 2013
- PMID
- 22264873
- Study Type
- Rat
- Participants
- 128
- Delivery
- Solution (Dissolved)
- Dose
- H2-rich HTK solution during 6 hours cold storage at 4°C
- H₂ concentration
- different concentrations (not specified numerically)
- Duration
- 1 day or less
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Cited by
- 29 (OpenAlex, as of November 2026)
- Country
- China
TL;DR
Adding hydrogen to the preservation solution used for heart transplants can protect the heart from damage caused by a lack of blood flow and oxygen during storage.
Key Finding
Hearts preserved in hydrogen-enriched storage solution recovered significantly better heart function after transplant and showed reduced cellular damage, inflammation, and cell death compared to standard preservation methods.
Summary
Researchers tested whether adding hydrogen gas to a heart preservation solution could better protect donor hearts during the 6-hour cold storage period before transplant. Using rat hearts, they found that hearts stored in hydrogen-enriched solution recovered better function after transplant and showed less damage from oxidative stress (cellular damage from reactive molecules) and inflammation compared to hearts stored in standard solution.
Practical Takeaway
This rat study suggests hydrogen may help protect donor hearts during transplantation, but it is early-stage research conducted in animals only. Much more work would be needed to determine if this approach could benefit human heart transplant patients. The findings are not applicable to hydrogen water consumption by healthy individuals.
Abstract (excerpt)
Background: Recent evidences indicated that hydrogen (H2) can attenuate organ transplantation induced cold ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury if administrated perioperatively. In this study we evaluated whether administrating H2 during the prolonged cold ischemia stage by adding it…