Hydrogen Gas Protects Brain Cells in Newborns After Oxygen Loss
- Authors
- Yuichiro Sugiyama, Yinmon Htun, Eri Inoue, Shinji Nakamura, Toui Tsuchiya, Yasuhiro Nakao, Tsutomu Mitsuie, Takayuki Yokota, Kosuke Sakamoto, Kota Inoue, Aya Morimoto, Ken-Ichi Ohta, Hirosuke Morita, Sonoko Kondo, Kosuke Koyano, Aya Tanaka, Takanori Miki, Masaki Ueno, Takashi Kusaka
- Journal
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Year
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1159/000546831
- Study Type
- Pig
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Japan
- Health Condition
- Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Inhaling hydrogen gas after birth-related brain injury helped protect neurons in newborn piglets, even if brain activity recovery wasn’t faster
Key Finding
Newborn piglets that inhaled hydrogen gas for 6 hours after oxygen deprivation had significantly more undamaged neurons than untreated piglets, suggesting hydrogen may protect brain cells even when immediate functional recovery is delayed.
Summary
Researchers studied whether breathing hydrogen gas could protect the brain in newborn piglets after a lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain. Piglets that breathed hydrogen gas for 6 hours after resuscitation had more healthy, undamaged brain cells compared to piglets that did not receive hydrogen, even though both groups showed similar patterns on brain wave measurements.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage animal study in newborn piglets, not humans. While the results suggest hydrogen gas may help preserve brain cells after oxygen deprivation, much more research—including human trials—would be needed before any clinical use. The finding is interesting but preliminary, and should not be interpreted as evidence that hydrogen water or gas would have similar effects in humans.
Abstract
Introduction: Combined therapeutic hypothermia (TH) and 24-h hydrogen (H2) gas inhalation reduces seizure burden in piglets in the latent phase of hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury versus TH alone. Nevertheless, the effects of H2 gas in the earliest phase following resuscitation were unclear. Methods: After HI insult, 17 piglets ≤24 h old were divided into a HI insult group (HI, n = 8) and a HI and H2 gas group (HI-H2, 2.1%-2.7% H2 gas, 6 h, n = 9). Time to recovery to a normal amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram background (RT-aEEG) was examined for 6 h after HI insult and undamaged neurons were counted. Results: The duration of low-amplitude (<5 μV) EEG after insult was not different between the two groups. Undamaged neuron numbers were significantly higher in the HI-H2 group than in the HI group (p < 0.01), although RT-aEEG was not different. Conclusion: Six hours of H2 gas inhalation initiated from resuscitation significantly increased the number of undamaged neurons compared to the untreated group, although there was no difference in RT-aEEG. Six hours of hydrogen gas inhalation exerts a neuroprotective effect even in piglets with delayed functional recovery.