Hydrogen Gas Shows Promise for Treating Hearing Loss and Inner Ear Damage
- Authors
- Jay C. Buckey
- Journal
- Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
- Year
- 2019
- DOI
- 10.3389/fncel.2019.00155
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- United States
- Health Condition
- Sensorineural Hearing Loss
- Body System
- Auditory
TL;DR
Scientists found that certain gases like oxygen and hydrogen can pass through the inner ear's protective barriers and help treat hearing damage by reducing inflammation and harmful chemicals. This is exciting because it gives doctors a new way to treat hearing loss that doesn't require surgery or traditional medicines.
Key Finding
Hydrogen gas can penetrate the inner ear's protective barriers and may reduce hearing damage through its ability to neutralize harmful free radicals and reduce inflammation, according to laboratory studies.
Summary
This review examines how gases like oxygen and hydrogen can be used to treat inner ear (cochlear) conditions. Unlike many compounds that cannot cross the protective barriers around the inner ear, gases can diffuse through tissue to reach the cochlea. Hydrogen gas appears to work by reducing harmful molecules called free radicals and by reducing inflammation, and early animal studies suggest it may help prevent hearing damage from certain medications like cisplatin.
Practical Takeaway
While animal studies suggest hydrogen gas has promise for treating certain types of hearing loss, this is a review article rather than a clinical trial, so there is no human evidence yet. Anyone interested in hydrogen gas for cochlear health should wait for human clinical studies to determine whether it actually works and how it should be delivered safely.
Abstract
Although the cochlear vascular supply (stria vascularis) is designed to block to certain compounds and molecules, it must enable gas exchange to survive. The inner ear capillaries must deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide for the cochlea to function. These gases diffuse through tissues across a concentration gradient to reach the desired target. Tight junctions or the endothelial basement membrane do not impede them. Therefore, gases that can diffuse into the inner ear are attractive as therapeutic agents. The two gases most often used in this way are oxygen and hydrogen, although carbon dioxide, ozone, and argon have also been investigated. Typically, oxygen is delivered as hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) (oxygen at pressure higher than atmospheric) to provide increased oxygen levels to the inner ear. This not only relieves hypoxia, but also has anti-inflammatory and other biochemical effects. HBO is used clinically to treat idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and both animal and human studies suggest it may also assist recovery after acute acoustic trauma. Laboratory studies suggest hydrogen works as a free radical scavenger and reduces the strong oxidants hydroxyl radicals and peroxynitrite. It also has anti-apoptotic effects. Because of its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, it has been studied as a treatment for ototoxicity and shows benefit in an animal model of cisplatinum toxicity. Gas diffusion offers an effective way to provide therapy to the inner ear, particularly since some gases (oxygen, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, ozone, argon) have important therapeutic effects for minimizing cochlear damage.