Molecular Hydrogen Therapy Ameliorates Organ Damage Induced by Sepsis

Abstract

Since it was proposed in 2007, molecular hydrogen therapy has been widely concerned and researched. Many animal experiments were carried out in a variety of disease fields, such as cerebral infarction, ischemia reperfusion injury, Parkinson syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, radiation injury, chronic hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, stress ulcer, acute sports injuries, mitochondrial and inflammatory disease, and acute erythema skin disease and other pathological processes or diseases. Molecular hydrogen therapy is pointed out as there is protective effect for sepsis patients, too. The impact of molecular hydrogen therapy against sepsis is shown from the aspects of basic vital signs, organ functions (brain, lung, liver, kidney, small intestine, etc.), survival rate, and so forth. Molecular hydrogen therapy is able to significantly reduce the release of inflammatory factors and oxidative stress injury. Thereby it can reduce damage of various organ functions from sepsis and improve survival rate. Molecular hydrogen therapy is a prospective method against sepsis.

Figure 1

Possible mechanisms of molecular hydrogen. Possible pathways for molecular hydrogen. It has been proposed that molecular hydrogen has the capabilities to affect the pathways mentioned and to directly or indirectly assist in the gene regulation or protein expression of the following: MPO, MCP, Caspase-3, Caspase-12, TNF, interleukins, Bcl-2, Bax, and Cox-2.