Because hydrogen provides potent antioxidative eff ects against acute lung injury, we hypothesized that treatment of organ donors with hydrogen during mechanical ventilation would reduce graft injury after lung transplant. Orthotopic left lung transplants were performed using an allogeneic rat model. Donors were exposed to mechanical ventilation with 98% oxygen plus 2% nitrogen or 2% hydrogen for 3 hours prior to harvest and the lung grafts underwent 4 hours of cold storage. The combination of mechanical ventilation and cold ischemia resulted in marked deterioration of gas exchange when the donors were ventilated with nitrogen, which was accompanied by upregulation of proinfl ammatory cytokines. These lung injuries were significantly attenuated by ventilation with hydrogen. Hydrogen induced heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in the grafts prior to implantation, which may contribute to protective eff ects aff orded by hydrogen. Hydrogen inhalation during ventilation prior to organ procurement eff ectively protected lung grafts from ischemia/reperfusion injury.
