Hydrogen Gas Shows Promise for Brain Protection After Cardiac Arrest
- Authors
- Lei Huang, RichardL Applegate, PatriciaM Applegate, Warren Boling, JohnH Zhang
- Journal
- Medical Gas Research
- Year
- 2018
- DOI
- 10.4103/2045-9912.241063
- Study Type
- Rat
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- United States
- Health Condition
- Cardiac Arrest
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Inhaling high-concentration hydrogen gas might help protect the brain from damage after a heart stops and restarts.
Key Finding
High-concentration hydrogen gas (60%) administered before and after cardiac arrest reduced seizure incidence and neurological deficits in rats with severe asphyxia-induced brain injury.
Summary
Researchers tested whether high-concentration hydrogen gas (60%) could protect the brain in rats that experienced cardiac arrest and loss of oxygen to the brain. When rats were given hydrogen gas either before and after the cardiac arrest or just after resuscitation, both treatment approaches reduced seizures and brain damage within 3 days compared to untreated rats, especially in the more severe cases.
Practical Takeaway
This is early-stage animal research only—it has not been tested in humans. While the results suggest hydrogen gas may have brain-protective effects after cardiac arrest, any potential application to human medicine would require extensive clinical trials first. This study does not support using hydrogen water or hydrogen gas for any medical condition at this time.
Abstract
Cardiogenic global brain hypoxia-ischemia is a devastating medical problem that is associated with unfavorable neurologic outcomes. Low dose hydrogen gas (up to 2.9%) has been shown to be neuroprotective in a variety of brain diseases. In the present study, we investigated the protective effect of water by electrolysis-derived high concentration hydrogen gas (60%) in a rat model of asphyxia induced-cardiac arrest and global brain hypoxia-ischemia. High concentration hydrogen gas was either administered starting 1 hour prior to cardiac arrest for 1 hour and starting 1 hour post-resuscitation for 1 hour (pre- & post-treatment) or starting 1 hour post-resuscitation for 2 hours (post-treatment). In animals subjected to 9 minutes of asphyxia, both therapeutic regimens tended to reduce the incidence of seizures and neurological deficits within 3 days post-resuscitation. In rats subjected to 11 minutes of asphyxia, significantly worse neurological deficits were observed compared to 9 minutes asphyxia, and pre- & post-treatment had a tendency to improve the success rate of resuscitation and to reduce the seizure incidence within 3 days post-resuscitation. Findings of this preclinical study suggest that water electrolysis-derived 60% hydrogen gas may improve short-term outcomes in cardiogenic global brain hypoxia-ischemia.