Effects of hydrogen-rich saline on endotoxin-induced uveitis
Yan WM, Zhang L, Chen T, Zhao GH, Long P, An J, Zhang ZM. · Medical Gas Research. 2017;7(1):9–18.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized multi-part rat endotoxin-uveitis experiment with dexamethasone active control
Eye health
Other forms
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats with severe or mild endotoxin-induced uveitis after footpad lipopolysaccharide injection.
The article reports separate experiments rather than one consolidated total: part 2 used 24 rats, dose-finding part 3 used 18, and part 4 used 96. The total for part 1 was not stated and no overall total is inferred.
Schedules ranged from one post-endotoxin dose to one week of pretreatment plus repeated early doses and daily treatment for three weeks; outcomes extended to day 21.
Intraperitoneal hydrogen-rich saline at 10 or 20 mL/kg, given once or repeatedly before and after lipopolysaccharide according to four experiment-specific schedules.
H₂ dissolved in saline — H₂ only, not Brown's gas and not inhalation.
Saline was supersaturated for six hours at 0.4 MPa and maintained above 0.6 mM H₂; gas preparation flow was not reported.
Not applicable — intraperitoneal H₂-rich saline, not gas inhalation.
No O₂ was co-delivered as part of the intervention.
Untreated normal and endotoxin-model groups plus intraperitoneal dexamethasone 1 mg/kg.
Outcomes and reported result
Slit-lamp uveitis scores, iris/ciliary-body inflammatory-cell infiltration, aqueous-humor protein and electroretinography.
Hydrogen-rich saline did not significantly improve clinical uveitis signs, inflammatory-cell infiltration or impaired ERG timing in either severe or mild models. It significantly reduced aqueous-humor protein only in the mild model at 24 hours; dexamethasone improved the principal inflammatory measures.
The complete free PMC article, all four experimental parts and figures were checked for group allocation, dose/concentration, null and positive findings, masked ERG assessment, funding and available disclosures.
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
Complex multi-part design, inconsistent reporting of a consolidated animal total, repeated-dose schedules, multiple endpoints/time points and an endotoxin model that does not represent all human uveitis. A Shaanxi science-platform grant funded the work; no explicit conflict statement was identified, so absence is not inferred.
Experimental endotoxin-induced uveitis in rats; the predominantly null findings do not establish a treatment for human eye inflammation.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
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: 28480027 · DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.202905
Free full article in PubMed Central.
Complete PMC article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
2026-08-10