Hydrogen-rich saline promotes motor functional recovery following peripheral nerve autografting in rats
Zhang YG et al. · Exp Ther Med. 2015;10(2):727–732.
Study at a glance
Preclinical
Female Sprague-Dawley rats after reversal autografting of a 10-mm sciatic-nerve segment
Hydrogen-rich saline 5 mL/kg intraperitoneally every day · Purified H₂ dissolved in saline for four hours at 0.4 MPa; the final dissolved-H₂ concentration was not reported.
Daily treatment with assessments at 4, 8 and 12 weeks
The article reports higher regenerated-neuron and myelinated-axon counts, improved electrophysiology and sciatic functional index, and less target-muscle atrophy with H₂-rich saline.
Preclinical autograft model with repeated measures and assay-specific subsamples; final H₂ concentration was not reported and no human participants were studied.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized two-group rat sciatic-nerve autograft experiment
Other neurological conditions
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
Female Sprague-Dawley rats after reversal autografting of a 10-mm sciatic-nerve segment
60 rats, with n=10/group at each of the 4-, 8- and 12-week behavioral time points and smaller assay subsets
Daily treatment with assessments at 4, 8 and 12 weeks
Hydrogen-rich saline 5 mL/kg intraperitoneally every day
H₂ dissolved in saline — H₂ only, not Brown’s gas and not inhalation.
Purified H₂ dissolved in saline for four hours at 0.4 MPa; the final dissolved-H₂ concentration was not reported.
Equal-volume normal saline daily
Outcomes and reported result
Sciatic functional index, nerve conduction, compound muscle action potentials, retrograde tracing, axon and myelin morphology and gastrocnemius atrophy
The article reports higher regenerated-neuron and myelinated-axon counts, improved electrophysiology and sciatic functional index, and less target-muscle atrophy with H₂-rich saline.
Allocation, preparation, dose, schedule and principal outcomes checked in the open-access full text.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit.
Limitations and applicability
Preclinical autograft model with repeated measures and assay-specific subsamples; final H₂ concentration was not reported and no human participants were studied.
Peripheral-nerve autografting in rats, not clinical nerve repair.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Read how records and evidence assessments are prepared.
Sources and record status
PMID: 26622383 · DOI: 10.3892/etm.2015.2518
Open-access full text is available through PMC and the publisher.
Open-access PMC article and PubMed record; no retraction or expression of concern was shown in the checked records on 7 August 2026.
10 August 2026
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