Hydrogen Storage Solution Keeps Transplant Cartilage Healthier Longer
- Authors
- Yunning Han, Pengwei Qu, Kaihong Zhang, Yikang Bi, Lu Zhou, Di Xie, Hongqiang Song, Jun Dong, Jianhong Qi
- Journal
- Cell and Tissue Banking
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10561-019-09758-7
- Study Type
- Pig
- Outcome
- Positive
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Joint Injuries
- Body System
- Musculoskeletal
TL;DR
Adding hydrogen to the storage solution helps keep cartilage grafts healthier over time.
Key Finding
Tissue stored in hydrogen-enriched solution showed significantly higher cell survival and better preservation of cartilage structure compared to tissue stored without hydrogen, with benefits increasing at higher hydrogen concentrations.
Summary
Researchers tested whether adding hydrogen gas to a storage solution could help preserve cartilage and bone tissue taken from pig knees that might be used for transplants. They stored tissue samples in solutions with different amounts of hydrogen for 28 days and measured how many cells survived and how well the cartilage structure was preserved. Tissue stored in solutions with higher hydrogen concentrations (especially 0.8 mmol/L) showed better cell survival and better preservation of cartilage components compared to tissue stored without hydrogen.
Practical Takeaway
This is an early-stage laboratory study in pig tissue, not human research, so it cannot yet tell us whether hydrogen water would benefit human health. The findings suggest hydrogen may have protective properties during tissue storage, which could eventually have applications in transplant medicine, but much more research—including human studies—would be needed before any health claims could be made.
Abstract
As an ideal antioxidant and anti-apoptotic substance, hydrogen (H2) has protective effects on many isolated organs, such as the heart, lung and kidney. In this study, we explore whether H2 improves the preservation effect of osteochondral allograft by adding it to Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) solution during the tissue culture stage. The osteochondral allograft apparatus was used to harvest 60 pieces of cylindrical allografts (l = 10 mm, d = 6 mm) cartilage in the lateral loading area of the femoral condyle from the pig knee joint in the aseptic condition, and the grafts were randomly divided into 4 groups: Control group (DMEM solution without hydrogen); H-1 group (DMEM solution with hydrogen concentration of 0.2 mmol/L); H-2 group (DMEM solution with hydrogen concentration of 0.4 mmol/L); and H-3 group (DMEM solution with hydrogen concentration of 0.8 mmol/L). The chondrocyte viability, histological changes (hematoxylin and eosin staining, Safranine O staining, and collagen type II immunohistochemistry staining) and biomechanical properties (Young’s modulus) of the osteochondral allograft were investigated after 28 days’ storage. The chondrocyte viability and proteoglycan and collagen type II contents in the H-3 and H-2 groups were higher than that in the Control and H-1 groups, and the H-3 group had the highest values. However, significant differences were not observed between the four groups based on Young’s modulus. Hydrogen as an additive to the DMEM solution improved the preservation effect of osteochondral allograft. The preservation effect of hydrogen occurred in a concentration-dependent manner.