Kidney / Dialysis
Kidney function and dialysis — a comparatively well-studied area, where H₂ is often delivered through the dialysis water or hydrogen-rich solutions.
Human studies on molecular hydrogen for Kidney / Dialysis. This page collects the 35 studies catalogued in this area — 0 randomized trials, 9 pilot/observational studies and 7 reviews. Listed newest first.
2026 · Viana — Molecular hydrogen and kidney diseases: a scoping review based on scientometry and data analytics
Acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease impose enormous burdens globally — and molecular hydrogen (H₂) consistently shows protective effects against apoptosis, fibrosis, inflammation and oxidative stress in kidney disease models.
2025 · Xu — Innovations in peritoneal dialysis fluid: biocompatible formulations and expanded therapeutic applications
Conventional peritoneal dialysis fluids cause peritoneal fibrosis and metabolic damage — new biocompatible formulations combining novel osmotic agents, advanced buffers, and molecular hydrogen aim to overcome these limitations.
2025 · Li — Application Trends of Hydrogen-generating Nanomaterials for the Treatment of ROS-related Diseases
Hydrogen-producing nanomaterials allow targeted, sustained delivery of H₂ directly to sites of disease — this review surveys how combining H₂ gas therapy with nanomedicine advances treatment of cancers, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular, liver, kidney, and skin diseases driven by excess reactive oxygen species (ROS).
2024 · Zheng — Potential Role of Molecular Hydrogen Therapy on Oxidative Stress and Redox Signaling in Chronic Kidney Disease
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is driven in large part by oxidative stress — and current therapies to slow its progression remain inadequate.
2018 · Chen — Research progress of hydrogen-rich saline for eye diseases.
This Chinese-language review summarizes the published research on hydrogen-rich saline (and hydrogen-rich water) for the treatment of eye diseases, including glaucoma, retinal ischemia, and other ocular conditions.
2016 · Zheng — Molecular Hydrogen Therapy Ameliorates Organ Damage Induced by Sepsis
This review summarises animal-based evidence suggesting that molecular hydrogen can reduce inflammatory cytokine release, oxidative stress, and organ damage in sepsis models, improving survival rates across brain, lung, liver, kidney, and intestinal tissues.
2012 · Ohno et al. — Molecular hydrogen as an emerging therapeutic medical gas for neurodegenerative and other diseases.
This review surveys the research on molecular hydrogen (H₂) across 63 disease models and human diseases documented in the four and a half years after the landmark 2007 Nature Medicine paper.
2026 · Pesotskaya — Hydration Bioanalyses of the Effects of Hydrogen-Rich Water (HRW)
Twenty-one days of daily hydrogen-rich water intake in healthy volunteers produced statistically significant decreases in hematocrit and blood viscosity, and reduced urine osmolality — all consistent with improved systemic hydration.
2025 · Tu et al. — Molecular Hydrogen Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Case Report on the Amelioration of Methotrexate-induced Myelosuppression and Immune Modulation
Methotrexate (MTX) is essential for rheumatoid arthritis but can cause dangerous bone marrow suppression.
2025 · Nakayama et al. — Hemodialysis Employing Molecular Hydrogen (H₂) Enriched Dialysis Solution May Improve Dialysis-Related Fatigue Through Impact on Energy Metabolism
Fatigue is one of the most debilitating aspects of life on hemodialysis — and it remains largely unaddressed by standard care.
2025 · Lin et al. — Molecular Hydrogen as a Potential Adjunctive Therapy to Improve Renal Function and Reduce Fatigue in an Elderly Patient With Chronic Comorbidities: A Case Report
An 89-year-old woman with coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes with nephropathy, and SLE — presenting with recurrent wound infection — showed improved renal function and reduced chronic fatigue after adjuvant hydrogen capsule therapy.
2018 · Nakayama — Novel Haemodialysis Treatment Employing Molecular Hydrogen-Enriched Dialysis Solution Improves Prognosis of Chronic Dialysis Patients: A Prospective Observational Study
Over a mean observation period of 3.28 years, chronic haemodialysis patients treated with H₂-enriched dialysis solution had a 41% lower risk of combined all-cause mortality and major cardiovascular events compared to conventional haemodialysis (hazard ratio 0.59, 95% CI 0.38–0.92).
2017 · Nakayama et al. — Possible clinical effects of molecular hydrogen (H₂) delivery during hemodialysis in chronic dialysis patients: Interim analysis in a 12 month observation.
In a 12-month prospective observation with 262 chronic dialysis patients, H₂-enriched dialysis solution was associated with lower antihypertensive drug use and fewer complaints of severe fatigue and pruritus — without detectable differences in standard dialysis parameters.
2010 · Nakayama et al. — A Novel Bioactive Haemodialysis System Using Dissolved Dihydrogen (H₂) Produced by Water Electrolysis: A Clinical Trial
Adding dissolved molecular hydrogen to dialysis solution significantly reduced blood pressure and inflammatory markers in hemodialysis patients.
2006 · Huang et al. — Electrolyzed-Reduced Water Reduced Hemodialysis-Induced Erythrocyte Impairment in End-Stage Renal Disease Patients
Six months of electrolyzed-reduced water (ERW) treatment in chronic hemodialysis patients reduced oxidative stress, improved red blood cell survival, and attenuated pro-inflammatory cytokines — second only to vitamin C, and without its side effects.
2003 · Huang — Reduced hemodialysis-induced oxidative stress in end-stage renal disease patients by electrolyzed reduced water.
Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing chronic hemodialysis showed significantly reduced oxidative stress markers and improved antioxidant status after one month of drinking electrolyzed reduced water (ERW).
2025 · Lu — Dietary addition of magnesium hydride nanoparticles: a breakthrough in combating high-fat diet-induced chronic kidney disease.
A high-fat diet gradually damages the kidneys — and feeding mice magnesium hydride (MgH₂) nanoparticles, which release hydrogen gas continuously in the digestive tract, provided significant protection against this kidney damage by reducing fibrosis and inflammation.
2023 · Guo — Hydrogen suppresses oxidative stress by inhibiting the p38 MAPK signaling pathway in preeclampsia
In a rat model of preeclampsia, hydrogen-rich saline significantly reduced inflammation markers, oxidative stress, and blood pressure-related damage — and the protective effect appears to work via inhibiting the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.
2022 · Mouzakis — Quantification of dissolved H₂ and continuous monitoring of hydrogen-rich water for haemodialysis applications: An experimental study
This study validated a contactless electrochemical sensor for continuously measuring dissolved hydrogen concentrations in physiological solutions relevant to haemodialysis.
2022 · Liu — In vivo microelectrode monitoring of real-time hydrogen concentration in different tissues of rats after inhaling hydrogen gas
Using implanted electrochemical microelectrodes, researchers measured hydrogen concentrations in seven different rat tissues in real time during and after inhalation of 4 %, 42 %, and 67 % H₂ gas.
2022 · Mizutani — Hydrogen-rich water reduced oxidative stress and renal fibrosis in rats with unilateral ureteral obstruction.
In a rat model of obstructive kidney injury, drinking hydrogen-rich water (HRW) for two weeks after surgery significantly reduced interstitial fibrosis and oxidative stress markers in the affected kidney.
2021 · van Gelder et al. — Safety of Electrooxidation for Urea Removal in a Wearable Artificial Kidney Is Compromised by Formation of Glucose Degradation Products
A wearable artificial kidney (WAK) using electrooxidation to destroy urea in dialysate generates dangerous glucose degradation products — making the current approach unsafe for clinical use.
2020 · Lu — Molecular hydrogen regulates PTEN-AKT-mTOR signaling via ROS to alleviate peritoneal dialysis-related peritoneal fibrosis.
In mice treated with high-glucose dialysate to induce peritoneal fibrosis, and in MeT-5A mesothelial cells in culture, hydrogen-rich peritoneal dialysate inhibited fibrosis by eliminating intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and suppressing the PTEN/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway.
2019 · Kobayashi — Organ Preservation Solution Containing Dissolved Hydrogen Gas from a Hydrogen-Absorbing Alloy Canister Improves Function of Transplanted Ischemic Kidneys in Miniature Pigs
Adding dissolved molecular hydrogen (H₂) to the organ preservation solution — via a rapid, practical canister method — significantly improved kidney function after transplantation from donors with circulatory arrest in miniature pigs.
2019 · Yamasaki — Effects of hydrogen-rich water in a rat model of polycystic kidney disease.
In PCK rats — a rodent model of polycystic kidney disease — drinking hydrogen-rich water did not significantly reduce cyst growth compared to plain water when consumed in equivalent volumes.
2019 · Liu — In vitro and in vivo studies of Mg-30Sc alloys with different phase structure for potential usage within bone.
Researchers developed a magnesium-scandium (Mg-30Sc) alloy with a body-centred-cubic (bcc) crystal structure as a biodegradable orthopaedic implant material and tested it in cell cultures and rats over 24 weeks.
2019 · Guan — Hydrogen gas reduces chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced hypertension by inhibiting sympathetic nerve activity and increasing vasodilator responses via antioxidation.
In rats subjected to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) — a model of sleep-apnoea-related hypertension — daily H₂ gas inhalation significantly attenuated the rise in blood pressure.
2018 · Nakayama — Translational Research of Peritoneal Dialysis Solution with Dissolved Molecular Hydrogen
Adding molecular hydrogen to peritoneal dialysis solution (PDS) protected the peritoneal membrane in a chronic kidney disease rat model, and a small 2-week human pilot (n=6 dialysis patients) found it safe and feasible.
2017 · Xing — Hydrogen Rich Water Attenuates Renal Injury and Fibrosis by Regulation of TGF-β-Induced Sirt1
Hydrogen-rich water reduced kidney fibrosis and dysfunction in a mouse model and prevented a critical cellular process — the transition of kidney epithelial cells into fibroblast-like cells — in human cell culture.
2016 · Du — Hydrogen-Rich Saline Attenuates Acute Kidney Injury After Liver Transplantation via Activating p53-Mediated Autophagy
In rats undergoing liver transplantation, hydrogen-rich saline (HRS) protected the kidneys from acute injury by reducing oxidative damage and cell death, with p53-mediated autophagy as a key mechanism.
2015 · Barbu et al. — The use of hydrogen gas clearance for blood flow measurements in single endogenous and transplanted pancreatic islets.
Researchers used hydrogen gas as a tracer — not as therapy — to precisely measure blood flow in individual pancreatic islets in rats and mice.
2013 · Xu et al. — Hydrogen-rich saline ameliorates renal injury induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction in rats.
In a rat model of obstructive kidney disease, hydrogen-rich saline (H₂ dissolved in salt solution) significantly reduced kidney tissue damage, cell death, fibrosis, and oxidative stress markers compared with untreated obstructed animals.
1999 · Ishikawa — A preventive effect of a selective endothelin-A receptor antagonist, S-0139, on the erythropoietin-induced reduction of the renal cortical blood flow.
This animal study in Wistar rats shows that erythropoietin (EPO) reduces renal cortical blood flow (RCBF) by triggering endothelin-1 release, and that the selective ET-A receptor antagonist S-0139 can prevent this reduction.
1983 · Homer — Transient solutions of equations for countercurrent capillary exchange.
A mathematical model of countercurrent capillary exchange was developed and applied to the analysis of hydrogen gas exchange in the renal medulla, yielding new estimates of medullary blood flow and revealing how tracer exchange between adjacent capillaries can mimic or distort countercurrent effects.