New Hydrogen Delivery Methods Show Promise for Treating Various Diseases
- Authors
- Lei Zhang, Han Yu, Qiufen Tu, Qianjun He, Nan Huang
- Journal
- Current Pharmaceutical Design
- Year
- 2020
- DOI
- 10.2174/1381612826666201211114141
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Various diseases
- Body System
- Multiple body systems
TL;DR
Scientists are working on using hydrogen gas to treat diseases because it acts like a natural healer in your body, and they've figured out clever ways to deliver it using tiny particles and special devices so it actually works. This could eventually become a real medicine if they prove it's safe and test it more in actual patients.
Key Finding
Recent advances in hydrogen-generating nanomaterials and delivery devices have addressed the low solubility problem of hydrogen, enabling sustained and controlled release of hydrogen for potential therapeutic use.
Summary
This review article examines recent developments in hydrogen therapy, a treatment approach that uses hydrogen gas for its potential antioxidant (damage-fighting) properties. The main challenge with hydrogen therapy has been that hydrogen doesn't dissolve well in water, so researchers have developed new nanomaterials (tiny engineered particles) and devices to deliver hydrogen more effectively to diseased areas of the body. The review discusses these new delivery methods and their potential for treating various diseases, while also noting that safety testing and clinical trials are still needed.
Practical Takeaway
While this review suggests hydrogen therapy is a promising emerging approach, it is a summary of research developments rather than a study with human results. The authors explicitly state that further safety investigation and clinical translation are necessary before hydrogen therapy can be established as a viable treatment in medical practice. Anyone interested in hydrogen therapy should await results from rigorous human clinical trials.
Abstract
Hydrogen therapy has recently attracted increasing attention as an emerging and promising therapeutic technology due to its selective antioxidant properties and regulatory capacities in vivo. To effectively solve the low solubility issue of hydrogen, a variety of nanomaterials and devices for hydrogen supply have recently been developed, aiming to increase the concentration of hydrogen in specific disease location and realize controlled hydrogen release and combined treatment. In this review, we mainly focus on the latest advances in using hydrogen-generating devices and nanomaterials for hydrogen therapy. These developments include the sustained release of H2 , controlled release of H2 , and versatile modalities of synergistic therapy, etc. Also, bio-safety issues and challenges are discussed to further promote the clinical applications of hydrogen therapy and the development of hydrogen medicine.