Hydrogen saline is protective for acute lung ischaemia/reperfusion injuries in rats.

BACKGROUND: Protective effects of saturated hydrogen (H(2)) saline on cardiac ischaemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury have been demonstrated previously. This study was designed to show that hydrogen-rich saline is protective in preventing lung I/R injury in rats. METHODS: Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 45 min occlusion of the right lung roots and 120 min reperfusion. Rats were divided randomly into three groups: sham-operated control group, I/R plus saline treatment, and I/R plus hydrogen-rich saline treatment (0.6 mmol/L, 0.5 ml/kg/d). Three days of intraperitoneal injection of hydrogen-rich saline before the reperfusion combined with immediate administration of hydrogen-rich saline after the reperfusion were performed. Following reperfusion, the lung tissue and the pulmonary artery was immediately obtained and the W/D ratio, pulmonary artery contraction and relaxation ability, H-E staining, TUNEL staining, caspase-3, MDA, 8-OHdG content and measurement of such biomarkers as WBC, CRP were measured or carried out. RESULTS: Hydrogen saline significantly protected vasoactivity of the pulmonary artery, reduced pulmonary oedema, decreased lung malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-OHdG concentration, alleviated lung epithelial cell apoptosis and lowered the level of such biomarkers as WBC, CRP, ALT and TBiL. CONCLUSIONS: It is concluded that hydrogen-rich saline is a novel, simple, safe and effective method to attenuate pulmonary I/R injury.