High-concentration hydrogen mitigates sepsis-induced acute lung injury in mice by alleviating mitochondrial fission and dysfunction
Zhang N et al. · J Pers Med. 2023;13(2):244.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized six-group mouse cecal-ligation-and-puncture experiment comparing low- and high-concentration H₂
Critical care and ischemia-reperfusion
Inhaled H₂
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Mice with moderate or severe polymicrobial sepsis
Six groups of 60 mice; survival cohorts used n=20/group and principal tissue assays commonly used n=6/group
Two 1-hour inhalations; outcomes at 24 hours and survival through 7 days
2% or 67% H₂ inhalation for 1 hour at 1 and 6 hours after surgery
The 67% intervention was Brown’s gas / oxyhydrogen generated at approximately 2:1 H₂:O₂. The 2% intervention was separately mixed low-concentration H₂.
Low-concentration arm: 2% H₂ with O₂ maintained at 33%, total flow 4 L/min. High-concentration arm: 67% H₂ oxyhydrogen; total high-concentration flow was not reported.
Low arm: 80 mL/min H₂, calculated from 2% of the reported 4 L/min mixture. High Brown’s-gas arm: H₂ flow not reported.
Low arm: O₂ maintained at 33% (about 1,320 mL/min if applied to the reported 4 L/min total flow). High arm: approximately 33% O₂, but O₂ flow was not reported.
Moderate- and severe-sepsis groups breathing control air/oxygen, plus sham
Outcomes and reported result
Survival, lung, liver and kidney injury, inflammation, oxidative balance and mitochondrial structure and function
The article reports improved survival and organ-injury measures with both concentrations, with several outcomes favoring 67% H₂. Mitochondrial membrane potential improved but was not fully normalized, and complex II activity did not significantly change.
Allocation, gas preparation, low-flow value, high-concentration Brown’s-gas identity, principal positive and null results, funding and conflicts checked in the open-access full text.
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
Large but highly partitioned preclinical experiment with short treatment and many outcomes. High-concentration flow was not disclosed; low-arm component flows are calculations from total mixture flow.
Cecal-ligation-and-puncture sepsis in mice, not clinical sepsis or acute lung injury.
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: 36836478 · DOI: 10.3390/jpm13020244
Open-access full text is available through PMC and the publisher.
Open-access PMC/publisher full text and PubMed record; no retraction or expression of concern was shown in the checked records on 7 August 2026.
2026-08-10