Study Questions How Hydrogen Gas Works as Antioxidant in the Body
- Authors
- Jelle Penders, Reinhard Kissner, Willem H. Koppenol
- Journal
- Free Radical Biology and Medicine
- Year
- 2014
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2014.07.025
- Study Type
- Molecular Assay
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Switzerland
- Health Condition
- Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury
- Body System
- Cardiovascular
TL;DR
Hydrogen gas (H2) does not seem to directly reduce damage from certain types of oxidative stress as previously thought, because it does not effectively neutralize harmful molecules or restore iron-containing compounds in the body.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas does not directly react with peroxynitrite or reduce iron-containing proteins, contradicting previously proposed mechanisms for how H2 acts as an antioxidant.
Summary
Researchers tested whether hydrogen gas (H2) works as an antioxidant by directly neutralizing harmful molecules called hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. Using laboratory tests, they found that H2 does not react with peroxynitrite and does not reduce iron-containing proteins as previously thought. This challenges earlier explanations for how H2 might provide health benefits in conditions involving tissue damage from lack of oxygen.
Practical Takeaway
This laboratory study suggests that if hydrogen water does have beneficial effects, they likely work through different biological pathways than scientists previously believed. However, this is a basic science study in test tubes, not human research, so it doesn't prove whether hydrogen water is or isn't helpful—only that the proposed explanations need revision.
Abstract
H2 has been suggested to act as an antioxidant when administered just before the reperfusion phase of induced oxidative stress. These effects have been reported, for example, for the heart, brain, and liver. It is hypothesized that this beneficial effect may be due to selective scavenging of HO⋅ and ONOOH by H2. The reaction of H2 with HO⋅ has been studied by pulse radiolysis in the past and is too slow to be physiologically relevant, not to mention that the reaction yields the reactive H⋅ radical. We therefore investigated whether H2 reacts with ONOOH and whether the presence of H2 influences the yield of nitration of tyrosine by ONOOH. With only negative results, we entertained the notion that H2 may possibly exert its beneficial effects by reducing Fe(III) centers, oxidized during oxidative stress. However, neither hemes nor iron–sulfur clusters were reduced.