Regulation of hydrogen and oxidative stress in treating intestinal mucosa from ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a diffuse chronic inflammation in the superficial intestine. Excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leads to the of the colorectal damage. As the anti-inflammation therapy needs to be last for at least 3-5 years, the drugs demand less toxicity. However, current treatments in the clinic are often accompanied by unavoidable adverse side effects. Hydrogen is a nontoxic antioxidant reagent with excellent permeability of biomembranes, which shows the potential in treating UC. A novel simply designed hydrogen storage particle, Magnesium Hydride (MgH₂) particle with an outer shell of passivated Magnesium oxide (MgO), was constructed in the current study to enable the safe and controlled release of hydrogen. This studies demonstrated that magnesium hydride particle (MgH₂@MgO) was effective in scavenging excessive ROS, relieving the inflammation, and reversing the progression of UC through inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway, which provided the experimental evidence for the clinical prevention and therapy of UC.