Research: Electrochemically Reduced Water Protects Neural Cells from Oxidative Damage.

A few weeks ago, I came across an article discussing the impacts of electrochemically reduced water (ERW) on neural cells in mice. Specifically, the researchers were looking at oxidative stress and mitochondrial disfunction as it relates to age-related neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Why ERW? Because it has the potential to cross something called the blood-brain barrier.

This is a highly selective semipermeable border of endothelial cells that regulates the transfer of solutes and chemicals between the circulatory system and the central nervous system, thus protecting the brain from harmful or unwanted substances in the blood [1]. Let’s break that down a bit. What does this mean? The blood-brain barrier is primarily responsible for protecting the brain from any harmful substance that might have infiltrated the bloodstream. For example, many biologic drugs cannot cross the BBB for the sole purpose of protecting the brain from their harmful impacts. So, why is it important that ERW can cross the BBB? “ERW contains a high concentration of dissolved hydrogen (0.4–0.9 ppm) and a small amount of platinum nanoparticles (Pt nps, 0.1–2.5 ppb), both of which exhibit ROS-scavenging ability. [2]” ROS-scavenging ability simply refers to the reactive oxygen species (ROS)—or oxidizing substances— ability to heal chronic or recurrent wounds or disease [3]. “Neutralized ERW has been shown to exhibit H2O2-scavenging activity which is correlated with protection of DNA [18, 19] and carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage [20], lifespan extension of Caenorhabditis elegans [16, 21], alloxan-induced type 1 diabetes [15, 19], hemodialysis-induced oxidative stress during end-stage renal disease [22, 23], and inhibitory effects of HT1080 tumor cell invasion [24]. Despite the various protective functions exhibited by ERW, its effect on neuronal cells has not been disclosed in the literature… [2].”

In their study, researchers utilized various cell types originating from mice and rats as a first step to explore the protective effects of ERW on neuro-cytotoxicity caused by reactive species. Results indicate that ERW suppresses neuronal cell death caused by H2O2-induced oxidative damage. “We decided to further confirm ERW efficacy by using the known antioxidants, L-NAC and AsA as system controls… From the results, ERW was confirmed to exert protective effects against H2O2 induced cell death. [2]”

What does this mean?

Simply put, the researchers found that ERW exerted protective effects against specific oxidizing activities. The researchers of this study found that the cell viability was significantly improved because of the ROS-scavenging ability of ERW. It is known that excessively produced ROS leads to oxidative stress and often neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.

Their data provides encouraging research for the therapeutic applicability of ERW against neurodegenerative disease. To read the full article and see their figures and research parameters, visit the original article, published here.