Hydrogen inhalation improves mouse neurological outcomes after cerebral ischemia/reperfusion independent of anti-necroptosis
Huang JL, Liu WW, Sun XJ. · Medical Gas Research. 2018;8(1):1–5.
Study at a glance
Preclinical
C57BL mice with one hour of middle-cerebral-artery occlusion followed by reperfusion.
Beginning at reperfusion, mice inhaled the test gas for 90 minutes. · 66.7% H₂ and 33.3% O₂ from an AMS-H-01 hydrogen/oxygen nebulizer.
Ninety minutes from the start of reperfusion; most outcomes at 24 hours, with MLKL time points through 72 hours.
Infarct ratio was 20.21±4.43% with oxyhydrogen versus 39.51±5.30% with untreated ischemia-reperfusion and 34.83±3.53% with N₂/O₂ control. Brain water and neurological scores also favored oxyhydrogen. MLKL protein and mRNA were not changed by the intervention, so the proposed anti-necroptosis mechanism was not supported.
Preclinical short-term stroke model, assay-specific small groups, no consolidated animal total, no reported total gas flow, no functional follow-up beyond the acute period and mechanistic tests that were null. Chinese National Natural Science Foundation grants funded the work; authors declared no conflict of interest.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized controlled mouse middle-cerebral-artery occlusion experiment
Other neurological conditions
Inhaled H₂
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
C57BL mice with one hour of middle-cerebral-artery occlusion followed by reperfusion.
Assay-specific group sizes were n=8 for infarct ratio, n=5 for brain water, n=17–18 for neurological score and n=3–5 for molecular assays; the article does not provide one consolidated animal total.
Ninety minutes from the start of reperfusion; most outcomes at 24 hours, with MLKL time points through 72 hours.
Beginning at reperfusion, mice inhaled the test gas for 90 minutes.
Brown's gas / oxyhydrogen — H₂ and O₂ co-generated by water electrolysis.
66.7% H₂ and 33.3% O₂ from an AMS-H-01 hydrogen/oxygen nebulizer.
Not reported — gas composition is given but total generator flow is absent, so H₂ mL/min cannot be calculated.
33.3% O₂ was co-delivered; O₂ flow in mL/min was not reported.
A 66.7% N₂/33.3% O₂ gas control, plus untreated ischemia-reperfusion and sham groups.
Outcomes and reported result
Infarct ratio, brain water content, neurological deficit and MLKL protein/mRNA expression as a necroptosis-pathway measure.
Infarct ratio was 20.21±4.43% with oxyhydrogen versus 39.51±5.30% with untreated ischemia-reperfusion and 34.83±3.53% with N₂/O₂ control. Brain water and neurological scores also favored oxyhydrogen. MLKL protein and mRNA were not changed by the intervention, so the proposed anti-necroptosis mechanism was not supported.
The complete free article, oxyhydrogen composition, assay-specific sample sizes, positive and null results, stated limitations, funding and conflict declaration were checked.
A reported association, difference or mechanism is not automatically a clinical benefit.
Limitations and applicability
Preclinical short-term stroke model, assay-specific small groups, no consolidated animal total, no reported total gas flow, no functional follow-up beyond the acute period and mechanistic tests that were null. Chinese National Natural Science Foundation grants funded the work; authors declared no conflict of interest.
Acute focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion in mice; not evidence of treatment efficacy in people with stroke.
No single-study GRADE certainty rating is assigned. Read how records and evidence assessments are prepared.
Sources and record status
PMID: 29770189 · DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.229596
Open-access PubMed Central article.
Complete PubMed Central article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
10 August 2026
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