Hydrogen Water Protects Kidneys from Mercury Poisoning in Rats

Authors
Journal
Georgian Medical News
Year
Study Type
Rat
Outcome
Positive
Peer Reviewed
Yes
Country
Ukraine
Health Condition
Acute Kidney Injury
Body System
Renal

TL;DR

Drinking water enriched with molecular hydrogen may help improve kidney function and reduce damage in rats with acute kidney injury caused by mercury poisoning and a low-sodium diet.

Key Finding

Hydrogen-enriched water reduced kidney damage and swelling in rats with mercury-induced acute kidney injury by decreasing harmful free radical damage and improving sodium reabsorption.

Summary

Researchers gave rats mercury poisoning to damage their kidneys, then treated some with water enriched with hydrogen gas. The hydrogen-treated rats showed improvements in kidney function, including better sodium reabsorption, reduced swelling, and decreased damage from harmful molecules called free radicals. The study suggests hydrogen may help protect kidneys during certain types of acute kidney injury.

Practical Takeaway

This is an early-stage animal study showing hydrogen water may have protective effects against kidney injury caused by mercury poisoning. However, this was only tested in rats under very specific conditions (mercury exposure and low-sodium diet), so it's unclear whether these results would apply to humans or other types of kidney problems. Much more research, including human trials, would be needed before any health recommendations could be made.

Abstract

Objective - to find out the possibility of using molecular hydrogen in the correction of no-reflow syndrome in the polyuric stage of acute kidney injury 72 hours after the administration of mercuric chloride in rats on a hyposodium diet. The experiments were performed on 60 male white non-linear sexually mature rats weighing 0.16-0.18 kg to study the effect of water loading with saturation with molecular hydrogen. Sublimate nephropathy was modeled under conditions of a hyposodium diet by subcutaneous injection of 0.1% mercury dichloride solution at a dosage of 5 mg/kg with a study after 72 hours, which corresponded to the early polyuric stage of acute kidney injury and the development of no-reflow syndrome. To saturate the water with molecular hydrogen at a concentration of 1.2 ppm and a redox potential from -100 to -350 mV, a new generation H2 generator Blue Water 900 (Korea) was used, containing an improved proton-exchange membrane PEM/SPE. Used: pathophysiological, biochemical, functional, chemiluminescent, statistical research methods. The antioxidant effect of loading with water with saturation with molecular hydrogen leads to a decrease in the loss of sodium ions due to an improvement in its reabsorption and β2-microglobulin in the proximal tubule, a decrease in lipid peroxidation in the renal cortex was noted, the degree of its damage by an increase in the K+/Na+ ratio and a decrease in degree of edema. Improvement in the condition of the proximal nephron led to an increase in total, enzymatic fibrinolytic activity in the renal cortex. The increase in the activity of succinate dehydrogenase in the renal cortex is due to an increase in the delivery of electrons due to the negative redox potential and the selective antioxidant effect of molecular hydrogen. The anti-edema effect of molecular hydrogen was revealed at the level of 7 layers of the kidney. During the formation of the no-reflow syndrome in rats on a low-sodium diet 72 hours after the introduction of mercuric chloride, the possibility of breaking large and small vicious circles with an antioxidant solution of H2 was shown due to its high permeability and the ability to neutralize the hydroxyl radical and peroxynitrite.