Hydrogen Water Improves Memory in Female Alzheimer's Mice
- Authors
- Chen Hou, Yunhua Peng, Chuan Qin, Fan Fan, Jiankang Liu, Jiangang Long
- Journal
- Free Radical Research
- Year
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.1080/10715762.2018.1460749
- Study Type
- Mouse
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Drinking hydrogen-rich water improved memory and brain health in female mice with Alzheimer's disease, but not in males, suggesting a new gender-specific treatment approach.
Key Finding
Hydrogen-rich water significantly improved cognitive function in female Alzheimer's disease mice by reducing brain inflammation and oxidative stress through estrogen-related pathways, but showed no similar benefit in male mice.
Summary
Researchers gave hydrogen-rich water to genetically modified mice that develop Alzheimer's disease symptoms to see if it could help their brain function and health. They found that female mice showed significant improvements in memory and thinking abilities after three months of drinking hydrogen-rich water, and the treatment reduced harmful inflammation and oxidative stress (cellular damage from unstable molecules) in their brains. Interestingly, male mice did not show the same benefits, suggesting that the effect may be related to female hormones and specific brain signaling pathways.
Practical Takeaway
This early-stage animal study suggests hydrogen water may have sex-specific effects on brain health in Alzheimer's disease, with potential benefits in females through hormone-related mechanisms. However, this is a mouse study only and does not directly prove hydrogen water would help human Alzheimer's patients—human clinical trials would be needed to determine if these findings apply to people.
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterised as a provoked inflammatory response and oxidative stress along with amyloid β peptide (Aβ) deposition and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain, and effective treatment is greatly needed. Molecular hydrogen, which has been proposed to be an antioxidant that selectively reduces reactive oxygen species, was found to exert beneficial effects in Aβ injection-induced cognitive dysfunction. However, whether and how hydrogen affects AD pathogenesis remains uninvestigated. Thus, in the present study, APPswe/PS1dE9 (amyloid precursor protein (APP)/PS1) mice, a transgenic AD mouse model, were administered hydrogen-rich water for 3 months and the effects on cognitive function and molecular pathways were investigated. We found that hydrogen-rich water significantly improved cognitive behaviour in female transgenic AD mice without affecting Aβ clearance, and reversed the brain oestrogen level, ERβ, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expressions that were damaged in female transgenic AD mice, but not in males. Furthermore, hydrogen-rich water ameliorated oxidative stress and inflammatory responses more profoundly in the brains of female AD mice than in those of males. Our results demonstrate a novel sex-specific beneficial effect of hydrogen via oestrogen and brain ERβ-BDNF signalling in AD pathogenesis.