Effect of molecular hydrogen, a novelly-established antioxidant, on the retinal degeneration of hereditary retinitis pigmentosa: an in-vivo study

Weiming Yan; Qiurui He; Pan Long; Tao Chen; Lei Zhang; Haiyan Wang

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1294315

Effect of molecular hydrogen, a novelly-established antioxidant, on the retinal degeneration of hereditary retinitis pigmentosa: an in-vivo study

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Apr 3:14:1294315. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1294315. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Weiming Yan^{1

2

3}, Qiurui He², Pan Long⁴, Tao Chen⁵, Lei Zhang¹, Haiyan Wang¹

Affiliations

¹ The Shaanxi Eye Hospital, Xi'an People's Hospital, Xi'an Fourth Hospital, Xi'an, China.
² The Third Hospital of Zhangzhou, Zhangzhou, China.
³ Fuzong Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University, Dongfang Hospital Affiliated to Xiamen University, Fuzhou, China.
⁴ The General Hospital of Western Theatre Command, PLA, Chengdu, China.
⁵ Center of Clinical Aerospace Medicine, Air Force Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.

Abstract

Objective Our research was performed in order to explore the effects of molecular hydrogen (H₂), a novelly-established antioxidant, on the retinal degeneration in rd1 mice, an animal model of inherited retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Methods The rd1 mice were divided randomly into control and H₂ intervention groups. Mice from other groups received H₂ intervention in three modes, two modes of the hydrogen gas (HG) and one model of hydrogen-rich saline (HRS). At 14 days post born (P14) and P21, various indicators were detected in all mice, including eletroretinogram (ERG), fundus phography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and retinal immunotaining of microglia cells' marker, Iba1. Results The ERG amplitude in mice from the control and H₂ intervention groups showed no statistical differences (p > 0.05). At P14 and P21, no significant difference in the distance from the retinal pigment epithelium to the outer plexiform layer on OCT from mice of the above two groups was found (p > 0.05). The thickness of the outer nuclear layer (ONL) in mice at P14 and P21 showed no statistical differences between the control group and the H₂ intervention group (p > 0.05). In the aspect of the number of Iba1-positive cells, we did not found any significant differences between the two groups (p > 0.05). Conclusion Different forms of H₂ intervention (hydrogen-rich saline and hydrogen gas) had no obvious effects on the course of retinal degeneration in rd1 mice. The specific mechanism of photoreceptor degeneration in the hereditary RP mouse model may be different, requiring different medical interventions.

Keywords: antioxidant; molecular hydrogen; photoreceptors; retina; retinitis pigmentosa.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by grants from the Key Scientific Research Project of Fuzong Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University (Project number: 2022ZD04), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of the Fuzhou General Hospital (Grant number: 48678), the Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province, China (2023-YBSF-537), the Natural Science Basis Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (2022JM-514) and the Key Laboratory Project of Education Department of Shaanxi Province, China (22JS012).