1. Consumption of hydrogen water prevents atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E knockout mice
- Author
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Ohsawa, Ikuroh, Nishimaki, Kiyomi, Yamagata, Kumi, Ishikawa, Masahiro, and Ohta, Shigeo
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ANTIOXIDANTS , *ATHEROSCLEROSIS prevention , *APOLIPOPROTEIN E , *LABORATORY mice , *OXIDATIVE stress , *CLINICAL trials , *PREVENTIVE medicine - Abstract
Abstract: Oxidative stress is implicated in atherogenesis; however most clinical trials with dietary antioxidants failed to show marked success in preventing atherosclerotic diseases. We have found that hydrogen (dihydrogen; H2) acts as an effective antioxidant to reduce oxidative stress [I. Ohsawa, M. Ishikawa, K. Takahashi, M. Watanabe, K. Nishimaki, K. Yamagata, K. Katsura, Y. Katayama, S, Asoh, S. Ohta, Hydrogen acts as a therapeutic antioxidant by selectively reducing cytotoxic oxygen radicals, Nat. Med. 13 (2007) 688–694]. Here, we investigated whether drinking H2-dissolved water at a saturated level (H2–water) ad libitum prevents arteriosclerosis using an apolipoprotein E knockout mouse (apoE−/−), a model of the spontaneous development of atherosclerosis. ApoE−/− mice drank H2–water ad libitum from 2 to 6month old throughout the whole period. Atherosclerotic lesions were significantly reduced by ad libitum drinking of H2–water (p =0.0069) as judged by Oil-Red-O staining series of sections of aorta. The oxidative stress level of aorta was decreased. Accumulation of macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions was confirmed. Thus, consumption of H2-dissolved water has the potential to prevent arteriosclerosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2008
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