The gastroprotective effect of hydrogen-rich coral calcium in a mouse model of peptic ulcer disease
Wu HT, Hsieh MT, Ou HY, Chao TH, Tsai LM. · Drug Design, Development and Therapy. 2025;19:9845–9851.
What kind of evidence is this?
Preclinical
Randomized four-group mouse HCl/ethanol gastric-injury study with ex-vivo and seven-day in-vivo experiments
Gastrointestinal health
H₂-rich water
Not reported in this record.
Not reported in this record.
Methods at a glance
Eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice exposed to hydrochloric-acid/60% ethanol gastric injury.
Four groups of six mice were reported; selected Western blots used n=3/group. Whether the ex-vivo and in-vivo stages used distinct animal cohorts is not made explicit.
Thirty-minute pretreatment before acute ex-vivo injury or once-daily pretreatment/injury for seven days in vivo.
Oral hydrogen-rich coral calcium (HRCC) before HCl/ethanol injury, compared with non-hydrogen porous coral calcium.
H₂ held/released by an oral coral-calcium product — not Brown's gas, not inhaled H₂ and not H₂-rich water.
The actual study batch's H₂ content/release was not measured. The introduction cites up to 14.72 ppm in water for this technology generally, which is not treated as the administered dose. The methods list 105/210 mg/kg, while figure legends repeatedly list 210/420 mg/kg.
Not applicable — oral solid/suspension; no gas flow was used.
No O₂ was co-administered.
Porous coral calcium at a matched reported dose, with and without HCl/ethanol injury.
Outcomes and reported result
Macroscopic ulcer damage, gastric histology/immune infiltration, Tnfa/Ccl2/Il6 gene expression and catalase/GPx/SOD1 protein expression.
HRCC groups showed less macroscopic/histologic gastric injury, lower inflammatory-gene expression and higher antioxidant-enzyme expression than injured coral-calcium controls, with reported dose gradients. Interpretation is limited by the unresolved two-fold dose discrepancy and absence of measured product H₂ exposure.
The complete free PMC article, methods, figures and disclosures were checked for animal groups, oral route, coral-calcium comparator, absent H₂ assay, methods/figure dose discrepancy, all main 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
Chemical-injury mouse model, preventive rather than therapeutic timing, small samples, selected assays n=3, unmeasured H₂ exposure, complex coral-calcium product and conflicting doses between methods and figure legends. A hospital managed by a medical-care corporation funded the study; authors declared no conflicts.
Preventive gastric-injury findings in mice; they do not establish ulcer treatment, product dose or safety in humans.
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: 41221497 · DOI: 10.2147/DDDT.S555188
Free full article in PubMed Central.
Complete PMC article and PubMed metadata; full-text extraction checked 9 August 2026.
2026-08-10