Dose-dependent inhibition of gastric injury by hydrogen in alkaline electrolyzed drinking water

BACKGROUND Hydrogen has been reported to relieve damage in many disease models, and is a potential additive in drinking water to provide protective effects for patients as several clinical studies revealed. However, the absence of a dose-response relationship in the application of hydrogen is puzzling. We attempted to identify the dose-response relationship of hydrogen in alkaline electrolyzed drinking water through the aspirin induced gastric injury model. METHODS In this study, hydrogen-rich alkaline water was obtained by adding H2 to electrolyzed water at one atmosphere pressure. After 2 weeks of drinking, we detected the gastric mucosal damage together with MPO, MDA and 8-OHdG in rat aspirin induced gastric injury model. RESULTS Hydrogen-dose dependent inhibition was observed in stomach mucosal. Under pH 8.5, 0.07, 0.22 and 0.84 ppm hydrogen exhibited a high correlation with inhibitory effects showed by erosion area, MPO activity and MDA content in the stomach. Gastric histology also demonstrated the inhibition of damage by hydrogen-rich alkaline water. However, 8-OHdG level in serum did not have significant hydrogen-dose dependent effect. pH 9.5 showed higher but not significant inhibitory response compared with pH 8.5. CONCLUSIONS Hydrogen is effective in relieving the gastric injury induced by aspirin-HCl, and the inhibitory effect is dose-dependent. The reason behind this may be that hydrogen-rich water directly interacted with the target tissue, while the hydrogen concentration in blood was buffered by liver glycogen, evoking a suppressed dose-response effect. Drinking hydrogen-rich water may protect healthy individuals from gastric damage caused by oxidative stress.