New Treatment for the Cognitive and Emotional Deficits Linked with Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Mice
Martínez-Martel I, Bai X, Batallé G, Pol O. · Antioxidants. 2022;11(12):2387.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Controlled paclitaxel-neuropathy mouse experiments with route and pathway inhibitors
Other neurological conditions
H₂-rich water
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Adult male C57BL/6 mice with paclitaxel-induced peripheral neuropathy and associated cognitive- and mood-related behavioral changes.
Assay-specific groups were used: n=6 per group for allodynia experiments, n=8 per group for memory and anxiety/depression-like behavior, and n=3 samples per group for prefrontal-cortex western blots. The article does not present one consolidated unique-animal total.
Experiment-dependent regimens of one or two injections daily for seven days, or twice daily for three days; behavioral testing occurred during the final treatment period.
Hydrogen-rich water was administered systemically by intraperitoneal injection, either once or twice daily for seven or three consecutive days depending on the experiment, one hour before testing.
H₂ dissolved in water but administered by injection — H₂ only, not Brown's gas, inhalation or drinking water.
Hydrogen-rich water was prepared with an Osmo-star Soriano S.L. generator and used at 0.3 mmol/L; the injected volume for drugs and HRW was 10 mL/kg.
Not applicable — intraperitoneal hydrogen-rich water, not gas inhalation.
No O₂ was co-delivered as part of the intervention.
Vehicle- and paclitaxel-treated mice receiving the corresponding control vehicle; additional inhibitor groups tested Kv7 and Nrf2/HO-1/NQO1 pathway involvement.
Outcomes and reported result
Mechanical and thermal allodynia, memory, anxiety- and depression-like behavior, and prefrontal-cortex p-ERK1/2, p-Akt, p-IKBα, BAX, 4-HNE, HO-1, GSTM1, NQO1 and SOD-1 protein measures.
Hydrogen-rich water reduced mechanical and thermal allodynia and prevented the reported memory and anxiety/depression-like behavioral deficits. It normalized paclitaxel-associated p-ERK1/2, p-Akt and 4-HNE changes and increased several antioxidant proteins. It did not alter paclitaxel-associated p-IKBα upregulation, and BAX expression was not significantly changed.
The complete open-access article, assay-specific group sizes, preparation, concentration, injection route and schedule, positive and null molecular findings, funding and conflict statement were checked.
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
Preclinical male-mouse model, small assay-specific groups, several experiments and outcomes, short treatment, no direct clinical endpoints and no consolidated animal total. Despite the everyday term 'hydrogen-rich water', the intervention was injected rather than consumed. Public Spanish and EU/FEDER grants and the Catalan CERCA Programme funded the work; authors declared no conflict of interest.
Paclitaxel-induced neuropathy and behavioral assays in male mice; it does not establish efficacy or safety in people receiving chemotherapy.
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: 36552595 · DOI: 10.3390/antiox11122387
Open-access MDPI article and PubMed Central copy.
Complete PubMed Central/MDPI article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
2026-08-10