Molecular hydrogen protects chondrocytes from oxidative stress and indirectly alters gene expressions through reducing peroxynitrite derived from nitric oxide
Hanaoka T, Kamimura N, Yokota T, Takai S, Ohta S. · Medical Gas Research. 2011;1:18.
Study at a glance
Preclinical
Hyaline cartilage from one healthy seven-month-old pig hindlimb and meniscus fibrocartilage from 10-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats.
Cartilage slices incubated for 3–80 hours in closed flasks with H₂-containing culture medium and a nitric-oxide donor. · Separate H₂-, O₂- and CO₂-saturated media were combined by volume. Gas bubbling flow and numeric dissolved-H₂ concentration were not reported; H₂ was maintained for 24 hours.
Outcome-specific incubations from three to 80 hours.
H₂ medium improved chondrocyte survival and lowered nitrotyrosine after SNAP exposure and altered selected matrix-related transcripts. The work did not assess intact joints, pain, cartilage mechanics or disease progression.
Ex-vivo slices, one pig source and unreported rat total, high 75% H₂ medium, chemical stressor, many gene outcomes and no whole-joint disease model. Japanese government grants funded the work; authors declared no competing interests.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Ex-vivo porcine and rat cartilage-slice oxidative-stress experiment
Musculoskeletal and pain research
Other forms
Information not yet classified
Some editorial classification fields are still pending. The source-reported outcomes and result are shown below; Hydrogenology does not infer a positive or negative signal from prose automatically.
Methods
Hyaline cartilage from one healthy seven-month-old pig hindlimb and meniscus fibrocartilage from 10-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats.
Assays generally used six cartilage slices per condition, with selected nitrotyrosine analyses n=4; the total number of rats supplying menisci was not reported.
Outcome-specific incubations from three to 80 hours.
Cartilage slices incubated for 3–80 hours in closed flasks with H₂-containing culture medium and a nitric-oxide donor.
75% H₂ with 20% O₂ and 5% CO₂ dissolved in culture medium — not Brown's gas because the proportions are not 2:1.
Separate H₂-, O₂- and CO₂-saturated media were combined by volume. Gas bubbling flow and numeric dissolved-H₂ concentration were not reported; H₂ was maintained for 24 hours.
Matched medium containing 75% N₂ instead of H₂, with several concentrations and durations of the nitric-oxide donor SNAP.
Outcomes and reported result
Chondrocyte viability, nitrotyrosine, gene expression of cartilage matrix components and matrix metalloproteinases.
H₂ medium improved chondrocyte survival and lowered nitrotyrosine after SNAP exposure and altered selected matrix-related transcripts. The work did not assess intact joints, pain, cartilage mechanics or disease progression.
The complete free PMC article, figures and supplements were checked for tissue sources, mixture composition, outcome-specific slice counts, missing animal total/flow, results, funding and conflicts.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit.
Limitations and applicability
Ex-vivo slices, one pig source and unreported rat total, high 75% H₂ medium, chemical stressor, many gene outcomes and no whole-joint disease model. Japanese government grants funded the work; authors declared no competing interests.
Porcine and rat cartilage slices under chemical oxidative stress; it does not establish treatment of osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Read how records and evidence assessments are prepared.
Sources and record status
PMID: 22146365 · DOI: 10.1186/2045-9912-1-18
Free full article in PubMed Central.
Complete PMC article, supplementary tables and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
10 August 2026
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