Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively.pdf

A R T I C L E S Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals e n 1 1 1 1,2 1 i Ikuroh Ohsawa , Masahiro Ishikawa , Kumiko Takahashi , Megumi Watanabe , Kiyomi Nishimaki , c i d Kumi Yamagata1 2 2 1 1 e , Ken-ichiro Katsura , Yasuo Katayama , Sadamitsu Asoh Shigeo Ohta m e r u t a Acute oxidative stress induced by ischemia-reperfusion or inflammation causes serious damage to tissues, and persistent oxidative n / stress is accepted as one of the causes of many common diseases including cancer. We show here that hydrogen (H2) has m o potential as an antioxidant in preventive and therapeutic applications. We induced acute oxidative stress in cultured cells by three c . e r independent methods. H2 selectively reduced the hydroxyl radical, the most cytotoxic of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and u t effectively protected cells; however, H did not react with other ROS, which possess physiological roles. We used an acute rat a 2 n . model in which oxidative stress damage was induced in the brain by focal ischemia and reperfusion. The inhalation of H2 gas w w markedly suppressed brain injury by buffering the effects of oxidative stress. Thus H2 can be used as an effective antioxidant w / / therapy; owing to its ability to rapidly diffuse across membranes, it can reach and react with cytotoxic ROS and thus