Hydrogen-rich saline promotes microglia M2 polarization and complement-mediated synapse loss to restore behavioral deficits following hypoxia-ischemic injury in neonatal mice via AMPK activation
Chu X et al. · J Neuroinflammation. 2019;16:104.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Controlled neonatal-mouse hypoxia-ischemia experiment plus BV-2 microglial-cell experiments
Other neurological conditions
Other forms
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Postnatal-day-7 mouse pups with Rice-Vannucci hypoxia-ischemia injury and cultured BV-2 cells
Multiple cohorts: principal tissue assays n=4–6/group and behavioral cohorts n=10/group; the article does not present a single total animal count
Treatment on post-injury days 1–3, with acute tissue and later behavioral and synaptic assessments
Hydrogen-rich saline 5 mL/kg intraperitoneally on days 1, 2 and 3 after hypoxia-ischemia, with additional AMPK-inhibitor experiments
H₂ dissolved in saline or culture medium — H₂ only, not Brown’s gas and not inhalation.
>0.6 mM dissolved H₂; saline was prepared for 12 hours at 0.4 MPa and concentration was checked with a dissolved-H₂ meter.
Not applicable — saline and cell-medium intervention, not gas inhalation.
No O₂ was co-delivered as part of the H₂ intervention.
Hypoxia-ischemia without H₂, sham controls and AMPK-inhibitor comparison groups
Outcomes and reported result
Inflammatory-cell accumulation, microglial polarization, AMPK and NF-κB, neurological behavior, synaptic proteins and complement components
The article reports less neuroinflammation, improved behavioral and synaptic measures and changes consistent with AMPK activation; an AMPK inhibitor reversed several reported effects.
The complete open-access article and supplementary cohort descriptions were checked for dose, concentration, allocation by assay, schedules, positive and null outcomes, funding and conflicts.
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 neonatal mouse and cell study with multiple mechanistic groups and outcomes. It does not establish treatment benefit after human neonatal hypoxic-ischemic injury.
Neonatal hypoxia-ischemia in mice and cultured microglia.
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: 31103039 · DOI: 10.1186/s12974-019-1488-2
Open-access full text is available through PMC and the publisher.
Open-access publisher/PMC full text and PubMed record.
2026-08-10