Hydrogen Gas Helps Fatty Liver Disease in Rats by Healing Gut Bacteria
- Authors
- Jun-Li Xue, Min Zhao, Yunchao Liu, Xiubin Jia, Xiaoyi Zhang, Qianqian Gu, Yunbo Xie, Shuchun Qin, Boyan Liu
- Journal
- European Journal of Pharmacology
- Year
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.ejphar.2023.175698
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
- Body System
- Hepatic
TL;DR
Breathing in hydrogen gas can help prevent and treat fatty liver disease caused by a high-fat diet by reducing inflammation and improving gut health.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas inhalation reduced liver inflammation and improved liver function in rats with diet-induced fatty liver disease, partly by restoring gut bacteria balance and strengthening the intestinal barrier.
Summary
Researchers gave rats with fatty liver disease (caused by a high-fat diet) hydrogen gas to breathe for 2 hours daily and compared them to rats that didn't receive hydrogen. The hydrogen-treated rats showed improvements in liver damage, blood sugar control, and liver function markers. The study also found that hydrogen reduced inflammation in the liver, strengthened the intestinal barrier (the lining that controls what enters the bloodstream), and changed the composition of gut bacteria in beneficial ways.
Practical Takeaway
This rat study suggests hydrogen gas may help with fatty liver disease through multiple pathways, but these results have not yet been tested in humans. The findings are early-stage evidence and should not be considered proof that hydrogen would work the same way in people. Anyone interested in hydrogen therapy for liver health should consult a healthcare provider, as human clinical trials are needed to determine safety and effectiveness.
Abstract
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multisystem metabolic disease associated with gut microflora dysbiosis and inflammation. Hydrogen (H2) is a novel and effective antiinflammatory agent. The present study was aimed to clarify the effects of 4% H2 inhalation on NAFLD and its mechanism of action. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a high-fat diet for 10 weeks to induce NAFLD. Rats in treatment group inhaled 4% H2 each day for 2 h. The protective effects on hepatic histopathology, glucose tolerance, inflammatory markers, and intestinal epithelial tight junctions were assessed. Transcriptome sequencing of liver and 16 S-seq of cecal contents were also performed to explore the related mechanisms of H2 inhalation. H2 improved the hepatic histological changes and glucose tolerance, decreased the liver function parameters of plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase, and relieved liver inflammation. Liver transcriptomic data suggested that H2 treatment significantly downregulated inflammatory response genes, and the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4/nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway might be involved, and the expressions of critical proteins were further validated. Meanwhile, the plasma LPS level was significantly decreased by the H2 intervention. H2 also improved the intestinal tight junction barrier by enhancing the expressions of zonula occludens-1 and occluding. Based on 16S rRNA sequencing, H2 altered the composition of gut microbiota, improving the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes. Collectively, our data show that H2 could prevent NAFLD induced by high-fat diet, and the anti-NAFLD effect is associated with the modulation of gut microbiota and inhibition of LPS/TLR4/NF-κB inflammatory pathway.