Towards the clinical application of molecular hydrogen in solid organ transplantation: A novel strategy to “exploit the advantages and reduce the obstacles”

Abstract

Molecular hydrogen (H₂) has the remarkable potential to selectively neutralize harmful reactive oxygen species, just leaving harmless H₂O. Towards its clinical application, however, there are multiple obstacles including flammability, high diffusivity/permeability, and low solubility. As a potential solution, we developed a simple ex vivo conditioning, HyFACS (Hydrogen Flush After Cold Storage), that involves injecting unsaturated hydrogen solution directly into the blood vessels of cold-stored organs just before implantation, In this review, we summarize the advantages of this simple end-ischemic preconditioning for solid organ transplantation by comparing the other H2 applications in the field of organ transplantation.