Inhalation of 4% and 67% hydrogen ameliorates oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and necroptosis in a rat model of glycerol-induced acute kidney injury.
Xue JL, Liu BY, Zhao M, Zhang MY, Wang MY, Gu QQ, Zhang XY, Qin SC. · 2023.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Controlled rat dose-comparison study
Kidney and urinary health
Inhaled H₂
Positive preclinical signal without a consistent dose response.
Animal renal, tissue and mechanistic biomarker outcomes.
Methods at a glance
Rats with glycerol-induced rhabdomyolysis-associated acute kidney injury.
Animal groups and assay counts were checked in the full article.
72-hour injury and treatment assessment.
Inhalation of 4% or 67% hydrogen after glycerol administration.
Inhaled molecular H₂ at low and high concentrations.
4% and 67% H₂; the high-concentration mixture requires article-specific handling.
Absolute H₂ flow was not separately reported here.
Carrier-gas composition differs by arm; no unreported oxygen flow is inferred.
Normal and glycerol-injury controls plus two H₂ concentrations.
Outcomes and reported result
Renal function, histology, oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis and necroptosis.
Both hydrogen concentrations were reported to improve several renal-injury measures; a consistent dose-response was not observed, although some histology favored 67%.
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, many endpoints and no consistent dose-response; very high H₂ concentration limits translation.
The reported glycerol-induced rat AKI model only.
SYRCLE animal-study tool — preliminary
Some concerns
Dose controls were present, but concealment, blinded histology and multiplicity handling were unclear.
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: 36204787 · DOI: 10.4103/2045-9912.345169
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