Hydrogen improves neurological function through attenuation of blood-brain barrier disruption in spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats.
Takeuchi S, Nagatani K, Otani N, Nawashiro H, Sugawara T, Wada K, Mori K. · 2015.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized controlled rat study
Other neurological conditions
H₂-rich water
Mixed positive preclinical signal.
Animal survival, functional, tissue and biomarker outcomes.
Methods at a glance
Spontaneously hypertensive stroke-prone rats.
56 rats: hydrogen-rich-water n=28 and control-water n=28.
Long-term follow-up through neurological and survival assessment.
Long-term ingestion of hydrogen-rich water.
H₂ dissolved in drinking water.
Preparation and replacement schedule were checked in the full article.
Not applicable.
No oxygen was co-delivered.
Regular drinking water.
Outcomes and reported result
Neurological function, survival, cerebral bleeding/infarction, blood-brain-barrier leakage, oxidative markers and MMP-9.
Neurological function and several tissue or barrier measures favored hydrogen water, while the survival difference was not statistically significant.
The full article was checked for methods, intervention details, outcomes, positive and null findings, funding and conflicts. This record does not imply medical efficacy.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit. Null findings, outcome type, study design and precision all matter.
Cautions and applicability
Animal model with multiple outcomes; the null survival comparison must remain distinct from favorable surrogate measures.
The reported stroke-prone rat model only.
SYRCLE animal-study tool — preliminary
Some concerns
Random assignment was reported, but concealment and blinded outcome assessment were not fully established.
Sequence generation checked where reported · Allocation concealment generally unclear · Personnel blinding generally unclear · Outcome-assessor blinding generally unclear · No prospectively registered analysis plan identified
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Certainty is assessed by important outcome across a complete eligible evidence set, not by attaching a final grade to one source.
Sources and record status
PMID: 25925889 · DOI: 10.1186/s12868-015-0165-3
A free full article is available through PubMed Central.
Official PubMed Central full article and PubMed bibliographic record; source identity, methods, intervention, results, funding and conflicts checked 10 August 2026.
2026-08-10