Hydrogen gas improves left ventricular hypertrophy in Dahl rat of salt-sensitive hypertension.

PURPOSE: Hypertension is an important risk factor for death resulting from stroke, myocardial infarction, and end-stage renal failure. Hydrogen (H2) gas protects against many diseases, including ischemia-reperfusion injury and stroke. The effects of H2 on hypertension and its related left ventricular (LV) function have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of H2 gas on hypertension and LV hypertrophy using echocardiography. METHODS: Dahl salt-sensitive (DS) rats were randomly divided into three groups: those fed an 8% NaCl diet until 12 weeks of age (8% NaCl group), those additionally treated with 2% H2 gas (8% NaCl + 2% H2 group), and control rats maintained on a diet containing 0.3% NaCl until 12 weeks of age (0.3% NaCl group). H2 gas was supplied through a gas flowmeter and delivered by room air (2% hydrogenated room air, flow rate of 10 L/min) into a cage surrounded by an acrylic chamber. We evaluated interventricular septal wall thickness (IVST), LV posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), and LV mass using echocardiography. RESULTS: IVST, LVPWT, and LV mass were significantly higher in the 8% NaCl group than the 0.3% NaCl group at 12 weeks of age, whereas they were significantly lower in the 8% NaCl + 2% H2 group than the 8% NaCl group. There was no significant difference in systolic blood pressure between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that chronic H2 gas inhalation may help prevent LV hypertrophy in hypertensive DS rats.

A bi-overlayer type plasmonic photocatalyst consisting of mesoporous Au/TiO2 and CuO/SnO2 films separately coated on FTO.

The principal purpose of this study is to present a new design for preparing highly active immobilized gold nanoparticle-based plasmonic photocatalysts. Gold nanoparticles were loaded on rutile TiO2 particles with a mean size of 80 nm (Au/TiO2) by the deposition precipitation method. The surface of SnO2 particles with a mean size of 100 nm was modified by copper(ii) oxide clusters (CuO/SnO2) with the loading amount (Γ/Cu ions nm(-2)) precisely controlled by the chemisorption-calcination cycle technique. Two mesoporous overlayers of Au/TiO2 and CuO/SnO2 were coated side by side on glass substrates with a fluorine-doped tin oxide film (FTO) using the doctor blade method (Au/mp-TiO2|FTO|CuO/mp-SnO2). As test reactions for assessing the visible-light activity, we carried out gas-phase decomposition of acetaldehyde and liquid-phase oxidation of alcohol. In each reaction, this bi-overlayer type catalyst shows a high level of visible-light activity much exceeding those of Au/TiO2 particles and a Au/mp-TiO2|FTO mono-overlayer type catalyst [J. Phys. Chem. C, 2014, 118, 26887]. To confirm the origin of the striking visible-light activity, we studied the electrocatalytic activity of CuO/mp-SnO2|FTO electrodes for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Both the visible-light activity of Au/mp-TiO2|FTO|CuO/mp-SnO2 and the electrocatalytic activity of CuO/mp-SnO2|FTO for ORR strongly depend on the Γ value. A good positive correlation has been found between the visible-light activities and the electrocatalytic activity for ORR. The striking activity of the present bi-overlayer type catalyst can be attributed to the efficient and long-range charge separation by the vectorial electron transport (Au(oxidation sites) → TiO2→ FTO, SnO2→ CuO(reduction sites)) and the excellent electrocatalytic activity of the CuO clusters.