The Medical Uses of Hydrogen

Abstract

Hydrogen (H 2 ) has been the focus of industrial interest as a pollution-free fuel. In addition, hydrogen is also a hot topic in medicine. Recently, animal and human experiments have shown that hydrogen is effective in treating various diseases, raising the possibility of developing hydrogen as a new therapeutic agent. The therapeutic effect of hydrogen is due to its antioxidant action to remove reactive oxygen species (ROS) effectively. Currently, it is known that ROS is involved in almost all diseases that afflict mankind. The therapeutic effect of hydrogen was reported first by Ohsawa and colleagues in 2007. They induced brain injury in rats by ischemia-reperfusion and found that inhalation of hydrogen gas (2%) markedly suppressed brain injury by inhibiting the actions of ROS. Since then, many researchers have found that hydrogen was effective in the ROS-involved diseases (diabetes, kidney complication of renal dialysis, acute brain infarction, inflammatory diseases of skin, muscle and joint, side effects of radiotherapy, skin wrinkles and post-exercise fatigue) in animal models and patients. In particular, hydrogen gas, unlike conventional antioxidants, 1) easily passes through the cell membrane and thus, is easily distributed to all organs and tissues of our body, 2) uniquely removes the most toxic hydroxyl radicals (•OH) of ROS, and 3) has no adverse or toxic effects with doses (0.4 and 1.6 ppm) used in all experiments reported. Based on the results of these experiments, attempts to use hydrogen as a therapeutic are actively underway. Given the fact that ROS are constantly produced in our bodies, the use of hydrogen gas or hydrogenated water is thought to help maintain health through treatment or prevention of diseases. increase in SOD and decrease in TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance) in and increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol and decrease in total cholesterol/HDL-cholesterol in blood. These results suggest