Hydrogen Sulfide Limits Heart Muscle Damage During Heart Attack

A team lead by David Lefer, Ph.D., from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx New York, and University of Alabama (UAB) researchers discovered directly administering hydrogen sulfide (H2S) into the heart during a simulated mice heart attack reduced damage to heart tissue.

The hydrogen sulfide injected into laboratory hearts of mice, who had been anesthetized for surgery, and whose left ventricular artery had been clamped for 30 minutes to stimulate a heart attack (9) reduces substantially by 72 percent reduction amount of heart tissue damage (when an artery is blocked) referred to as reperfusion injury, after restoring oxygen (deprived for thirty minutes during laboratory test) and blood flow, previously blocked.

According to Dr. David Kraus, Ph.D., UAB associate professor in the Departments of Environmental Health Science and Biology, before surgery or during medical transport until adequate oxygen and blood flow is resorted, H2S could be administered to place organs into 'suspended animation", confirmed by researchers, who induced fully reversible "suspended animation" (inhaled H2S) state in animals. (10). Furthermore, Dr. Kraus concluded hydrogen sulfide would increase the number of people surviving cardiac arrest, heart transplant and trauma in general (11). When hydrogen sulfide is formulated into a low concentration saline type solution is not considered toxic or flammable gas and does not smell like foul odor or rotten eggs, compared to concentrated amount (12).

The findings of the study by David Lefer (co-author) and researchers, regarding use of hydrogen Sulfide is published in the online Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences September 18, 2007 (9).