Hydrogen Water Reduces Nerve Pain by Calming Brain Inflammation
- Authors
- Hong-Guang Chen, Chunjing Zhou, Keliang Xie, Xiaoyin Meng, Yaoqi Wang, Yong-Hao Yu
- Journal
- Neuroscience
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2019.10.046
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Neuropathic Pain
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Hydrogen treatment may relieve the intense pain caused by nerve injury by boosting the body's cellular cleanup process and reducing inflammation in the spinal cord.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich saline reduced nerve injury pain in rats by activating a cellular cleanup process (autophagy) that suppressed an inflammation pathway (NLRP3 inflammasome) in spinal cord immune cells.
Summary
This study in rats investigated how hydrogen-rich saline might reduce pain sensitivity caused by nerve injury. Researchers found that hydrogen treatment activated a cellular cleanup process called autophagy while simultaneously turning off an inflammation-triggering mechanism called the NLRP3 inflammasome in immune cells of the spinal cord. The treatment reduced pain-related sensitivity in rats with nerve injuries.
Practical Takeaway
While this rat study suggests hydrogen may influence pain-related inflammation pathways, it is early-stage research that has not been tested in humans. The findings are interesting from a scientific perspective but cannot yet be applied as a treatment recommendation for human neuropathic pain. Human clinical trials would be needed to determine if these effects translate to people.
Abstract
Neuropathic pain is a complication after a spinal nerve injury. The inflammasomes are now identified to be responsible for triggering inflammation in neuropathic pain. Autophagy participates in the process of neuropathic pain and can regulate the inflammasome activation in different diseases. Our previous research reported that hydrogen exerted a protective effect against neuropathic pain. Therefore, we focused on the mechanism and role of autophagy and inflammasome, by which hydrogen alleviated the hyperpathia induced by neuropathic pain. The results showed that neuropathic pain stimulated activation of inflammasome NLRP3 and autophagy pathway in the microglial cells of the spinal cord. The inhibition of NLRP3 inhibited the hyperpathia induced by spinal nerve litigation surgery. The absence of autophagy aggravated the inflammasome activity and hyperpathia. Hydrogen promoted autophagy related protein expression, inhibited the inflammasome NLRP3 pathway activation, and relieved the hyperpathia induced by neuropathic pain. Hydrogen treatment could alleviate hyperpathia by autophagy-mediated NLRP3 inactivation.