Scientists Track Hydrogen Gas Levels in Rat Organs After Inhalation
- Authors
- Bo-Yan Liu, Jun-Li Xue, Qian-Qian Gu, Min Zhao, Meng-Yu Zhang, Ming-Yue Wang, Yun Wang, Shu-Cun Qin
- Journal
- Medical Gas Research
- Year
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.4103/2045-9912.330694
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- General Research
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Scientists have successfully measured how different levels of inhaled hydrogen gas accumulate in various rat tissues, finding that the brain absorbs the most hydrogen while muscles absorb the least.
Key Finding
Hydrogen accumulation in rat tissues is dose-dependent, with the brain reaching the highest concentrations and muscle tissue the lowest, while fatty tissues and muscle take significantly longer to reach stable hydrogen levels than other organs.
Summary
Researchers used special sensors to measure how much hydrogen gas accumulates in different organs of rats after they breathed in varying amounts of hydrogen (4%, 42%, or 67%). They found that hydrogen levels in each tissue increased with higher doses, accumulated most in the brain, and accumulated least in leg muscle. Fatty tissues and muscle took longer to reach stable hydrogen levels compared to other organs.
Practical Takeaway
This animal study provides basic information about how inhaled hydrogen distributes throughout the body, which could help researchers design better dosing strategies for future hydrogen research. However, these are early findings in rats, and it remains unclear whether these patterns apply to humans or whether the hydrogen concentrations achieved have any health effects.
Abstract
Medical effects of hydrogen have been reported in many studies. Due to difficulties in measuring hydrogen concentration in vivo after intake and high explosive risks of hydrogen, studies about dose-response relationships and tissue concentrations of hydrogen are few. Here, for the first time, we monitored real-time hydrogen concentrations in different tissues in rats including brain, liver, spleen, kidney, thigh muscle, inguinal white adipose tissue, and gonadal white adipose tissue after inhaling different concentrations of hydrogen (4%, 42%, and 67%) using an electrochemical sensor. Hydrogen concentrations in the same tissue showed a dose-dependent response. The equilibrium concentration values were highest in the brain and lowest in the thigh muscle. The saturation and desaturation curves changed more slowly in the thigh muscle and white adipose tissues than in other tissues. These results provide fundamental information for the selection of hydrogen dose applications in basic research and clinical trials. The experiments were approved by the Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences (No. 2020-1028) on March 18, 2020.