相关背景介绍：全世界面临着透析人群迅速增长的趋势。透析人群由1990年42万6仟人十年中增长至2000年106万5仟人，预计2010年将达到200余万人。这一人数的增长，造成用于透析的医疗费用的迅速增长：由80年代2000亿至90年代约4500亿，预期新世纪的第一个十年中将达到万余亿。这个迅速增长的经费对于发达的工业化国家也已成为严重的负担。需要肾脏替代治疗的终末期肾病（ESRD）病人数目巨大，但潜在的患者——慢性肾脏病（CKD）数目更加惊人。因此，近些年来CKD的防治不仅成为国际肾脏病学术界共同关注的重点；而且已成为全球性的公共卫生事件。CKD的防治对于我们经济欠发达国家有着尤为特殊的重要性。因为，占全球人口20%的发达国家，却占透析人群的90%，表明广大的发展中国家的CKD病人进入ESRD时得不到透析救治的机会。因此，在这些国家中对CKD病人的防治更有特殊重要的意义。关于CKD的详细资料：http://www.cns120.com/nephrotic/common/386.html

氢气选择性抗氧化发现以来，已经在各种各样炎症和氧化损伤类疾病中证明了它的神奇效果，3年来已经发表的论文达到将近70篇，在肾疾病方面，已有2篇关于肾脏缺血再灌注损伤的研究和1篇肾脏移植后肾病的研究。也有几篇关于糖尿病肾脏损伤的临床研究和关于在透析液中溶解氢气的新型透析液的研究。但过去没有关于慢性肾脏病治疗的研究，刚刚收到一篇这方面研究的文章信息，是来自日本的报道，证明给动物饮用含氢水对慢性肾脏病治疗效果的研究。该文章pdf2010年12月30日发表在《肾脏病与透析肾移植杂志》Nephrol. Dial. Transplant。

动物模型制备方法：7周年龄雄性Dahl盐敏感大鼠分成2组，一组17只给不含氢气的水，另一组18只给含氢气的水，所有动物的饮水中盐浓度为0.5%，每天上午和下午换水（2次），水容器为ad libitum材料，通过一个金属管给动物饮用（保持氢气浓度），6周后接扎一侧肾动脉45分钟后再灌注，造成一侧肾脏损害，1周后处死动物（这一周是否仍然给同样的水？）进行组织学和血清学研究。

研究结果发现，对照组血清中炎症因子MCP1、甲基乙二醛(methylglyoxal,MGO)、尿素氮都显著升高（应该是与正常组比较），对侧肾和心脏组织学发现肾小球细胞粘附（glomerular adhesion？）心脏纤维化ED-1 (CD68)和硝基酪氨酸阳性细胞显著增加，治疗组上述变化显著减轻。结果提示，氢气对慢性肾脏病有很好的治疗作用。

Intake of water with high levels of dissolved hydrogen (H2) suppresses ischemia-induced cardio-renal injury in Dahl salt-sensitive rats

Wan-Jun Zhu1,2, Masaaki Nakayama3,4, Takefumi Mori1,3, Keisuke Nakayama1, Junichiro Katoh1, Yaeko Murata1, Toshinobu Sato1, Shigeru Kabayama2,3 and Sadayoshi Ito1,3

Background. Hydrogen (H₂) reportedly produces an antioxidative effect by quenching cytotoxic oxygen radicals. We studied the biological effects of water with dissolved H₂ on ischemia-induced cardio-renal injury in a rat model of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

Methods. Dahl salt-sensitive rats (7 weeks old) were allowed ad libitum drinking of filtered water (FW: dissolved H₂, 0.00 ± 0.00 mg/L) or water with dissolved H₂ produced by electrolysis (EW: dissolved H₂, 0.35 ± 0.03 mg/L) for up to 6 weeks on a 0.5% salt diet. The rats then underwent ischemic reperfusion (I/R) of one kidney and were killed a week later for investigation of the contralateral kidney and the heart.

Results. In the rats given FW, unilateral kidney I/R induced significant increases in plasma monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, methylglyoxal and blood urea nitrogen. Histologically, significant increases were found in glomerular adhesion, cardiac fibrosis, number of ED-1 (CD68)-positive cells and nitrotyrosine staining in the contralateral kidney and the heart. In rats given EW, those findings were significantly ameliorated and there were significant histological differences between rats given FW and those given EW.

Conclusion. Consumption of EW by ad libitum drinking has the potential to ameliorate ischemia-induced cardio-renal injury in CKD model rats. This indicates a novel strategy of applying H₂ produced by water electrolysis technology for the prevention of CKD cardio-renal syndrome.