Hydrogen Injection Helps Spinal Cord Injury Recovery in Rats
- Authors
- Ke-xiang Zhang, Jian-long Wang, Qing-shan Zhang, Kai-di Zhu, Jian-feng Sun, Ze-peng Zhang, Jian-wen Sun
- Journal
- Neural Regeneration Research
- Year
- 2015
- DOI
- 10.4103/1673-5374.158361
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Acute Spinal Cord Injury
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Injecting a solution high in hydrogen helps repair spinal cord damage in rats and reduces harmful inflammation and cell death.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich saline injected into the space around the spinal cord within two weeks of injury reduced cell death, inflammation, and oxidative stress while improving motor function in rats with acute spinal cord injury.
Summary
Researchers tested whether hydrogen-rich saline (a salt solution containing dissolved hydrogen) could help repair spinal cord injuries in rats. They injected the solution directly into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord multiple times over two weeks following injury. The treatment reduced cell death and inflammation, boosted the body's natural antioxidant defenses (which protect against cellular damage), and improved the rats' ability to move their hind legs.
Practical Takeaway
This early-stage animal study suggests hydrogen-rich saline may have protective effects for acute spinal cord injury, but it is a rat study only and does not yet tell us whether this approach would work in humans. Much more research, including human trials, would be needed before any clinical application could be considered.
Abstract
Hydrogen can relieve tissue-damaging oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. Injection of hydrogen-rich saline is an effective method for transporting molecular hydrogen. We hypothesized that hydrogen-rich saline would promote the repair of spinal cord injury induced by Allen's method in rats. At 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours after injury, then once daily for 2 weeks, 0.25 mL/kg hydrogen-rich saline was infused into the subarachnoid space through a catheter. Results at 24 hours, 48 hours, 1 week and 2 weeks after injury showed that hydrogen-rich saline markedly reduced cell death, inflammatory cell infiltration, serum malondialdehyde content, and caspase-3 immunoreactivity, elevated serum superoxide dismutase activity and calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity, and improved motor function in the hindlimb. The present study confirms that hydrogen-rich saline injected within 2 weeks of injury effectively contributes to the repair of spinal cord injury in the acute stage.