Case Report: Buccal administration of hydrogen-producing blend after a mild traumatic brain injury in a professional athlete

Abstract

Background: Sport-related mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious trauma that could impair brain function of an injured athlete. Treatment solutions for mild TBI typically concentrate on complete rest, while non-traditional therapeutic options remain largely ineffective. Molecular hydrogen (H2) is an innovative neuroprotective agent that can easily reach the brain, yet no data are available concerning its value as a first-aid intervention after a mild TBI. Case report: This case report demonstrates the efficacy and safety of a hydrogen-producing dissolving tablet administered buccally during the first 24 hours post-injury in a professional soccer player who suffered a mild TBI. The patient received a formulated dosage of hydrogen every 2 hours, with the first intervention given immediately after an initial examination (~ 15 min after the injury). The overall score for Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (SCAT2), a standardized method of evaluating injured athletes for concussion, increased from 68 points (severe disruption) at baseline to 84 points (mild disruption) at 24-h follow-up. The patient reported no side effects of hydrogen intervention. Conclusions: This case has demonstrated that intensive consecutive therapy with oral transmucosal hydrogen formulation is a beneficial strategy with regard to the reduction of presence and severity of symptoms of sport-related mild TBI.

Hydrogen‐rich water and caffeine for alertness and brain metabolism in sleep‐deprived habitual coffee drinkers

“…For instance, hydrogen improved the brain MRI indices in the acute brain stem infarct sites (Ono et al, 2011), positively affected patientreported scores in Parkinson's disease (Yoritaka et al, 2013), attenuated the stroke severity in patients with cerebral infarction (Ono et al, 2017), increased mood, anxiety, and autonomic nerve function in healthy volunteers (Mizuno et al, 2018), reduced the presence and severity of symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (Javorac et al 2019), and improved cognitive function in community-dwelling older women (Korovljev et al, 2020). Although those studies showed promising results of medium-to long-term intervention with hydrogen on various indices of brain function, few trials endeavored to evaluate short-term effects of hydrogen on brain performance.…”

“…alertness, brain metabolism, choline-to-creatine ratio, hydrogen, sleep (Ohta 2012), HRW was found to ameliorate patient-reported scores in Parkinson's disease (Yoritaka et al, 2013), increase mood, anxiety, and autonomic nerve function in daily life (Mizuno et al, 2018) and reduce the presence and severity of symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (Javorac et al 2019). The beneficial effects of dihydrogen in neurology are attributed to its role in neurometabolic processes, including bioenergetics, anti-oxygenation, anti-inflammation, and anti-apoptosis, (Iketani & Ohsawa, 2017;Ostojic, 2017).…”

“…Hydrogen‐rich water (HRW: also known as hydrogen‐infused water) emerges as the most common vehicle to deliver dihydrogen in biomedicine, and over 1,500 studies published during the past decade or so confirm the favorable effects of drinking HRW in both animal and human trials (for a detailed review see Yang et al., 2020 ). Due to its pleiotropic biological activity and ability to easily cross the blood‐brain barrier (Ohta 2012 ), HRW was found to ameliorate patient‐reported scores in Parkinson's disease (Yoritaka et al., 2013 ), increase mood, anxiety, and autonomic nerve function in daily life (Mizuno et al., 2018 ) and reduce the presence and severity of symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (Javorac et al 2019 ). The beneficial effects of dihydrogen in neurology are attributed to its role in neurometabolic processes, including bioenergetics, anti‐oxygenation, anti‐inflammation, and anti‐apoptosis, (Iketani & Ohsawa, 2017 ; Ostojic, 2017 ).…”

Molecular hydrogen therapy for neurological diseases

“…An athlete given a buccal administration of hydrogen producing dissolving tablet immediately and every 2 hours for a day after concussive injury presented with an improvement in concussion score from moderate to mild category. 57 In the future, larger clinical studies may provide more data on dose and efficacy of such therapies in the setting of TBI.…”