Gene expression profiling in mouse lung after H2 administration

Molecular hydrogen (H2) is a biologically active gas that is used medically to ameliorate various systemic pathological conditions. H2 also regulates gene expression involved in intracellular signaling and metabolic pathways. Therefore, we attempted to identify genes that exhibit similar changes in expression in response to H2 by employing DNA microarrays and gene set enrichment analysis. We found that H2 activated the expression of sets of genes regulated by histone H3K27 methylation status. H2 also modified the expression of many genes regulated by a wide variety of signaling pathways. We divided 10-week male BALB/c mice into two groups: 1) control group: reared in air (n = 3), 2) hydrogen-treated group: reared in 2% hydrogen/98% air (n = 3). After 3-week rearing, the mice were sacrificed and their lungs were excised for RNA extraction. Gene expression profile was compared by microarray.