Review Article

Methane Medicine: A Rising Star Gas with Powerful Anti-Inflammation, Antioxidant, and Antiapoptosis Properties

Table 1

The studies in this review.

Organs or systemsAnimal modelsReferenceMechanism

Liver   (1) Carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver injuryYao et al. [16]MS may activate the PI3K-AKT-GSK-3β pathway to induce IL-10 expression and produce anti-inflammatory effects via the NF-κB and MAPK pathways
Inflammatory cytokine: IL-6\TNF-α\IL-1β\IFN-γ\ICAM-1\CXCL1 ↓
IL-10 ↑
Inflammatory signal pathway: NF-κB\p65\ERK\JNK\MAPK\P38 ↓
   (2) Concanavalin A-induced autoimmune hepatitisHe et al. [19]Oxidant: MDA\8-OHdG ↓
Antioxidant: SOD\CAT ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IFN-γ\IL-6\IL-1β
IL-10 ↑
Inflammatory signal pathway: IκB\NF-κB\P38\MAPK ↓
   (3) Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injuryYe et al. [24]Oxidant: MDA\8-OHdG ↓
Antioxidant: SOD ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-6 ↓
Apoptosis: caspase-3 ↓

Lung   (4) Lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injurySun et al. [27]Oxidant: MDA ↓
Antioxidant: SOD ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-6 ↓
Apoptosis: TUNEL staining cells ↓

Central nervous system   (5) Spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injuryWang et al. [35]MS increases the expression of Nrf2 and downstream HO-1, SOD, catalase, and GSH, inhibiting the production of inflammatory cytokine, oxidative products, and glial activation.
Oxidant: MDA\3-NT\GSSG\H2O2 ↓
Antioxidant: HO-1\SOD\catalase\GSH ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-1β\ICAM-1\CXCL1\MPO ↓
Inflammatory signal pathway: NF-κB\p65 ↓
Apoptosis: caspase-9\caspase-3\MMP9 ↓
Nrf2 ↑
   (6) Acute carbon monoxide poisoning injuryShen et al. [30]Oxidant: MDA\3-NT\8-OHdG ↓
Antioxidant: SOD ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-1β
Apoptosis: caspase-9\caspase-3\MMP9 ↓
   (7) Spinal cord injuryWang et al. [10]Oxidant: MDA ↓
Antioxidant: SOD ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-6\IL-1β
Apoptosis: TUNEL staining cells\caspase-3 ↓

Immune system   (8) Endotoxin shock
Bacteria-induced sepsis dextran-sulfate-sodium-induced colitis in mice
Zhang et al. [36]MS limits LPS-induced NF-κB/MAPK signal in macrophages and suppress immune response in mice by enhancing PI3K/AKT/GSK-3β-mediated IL-10 expression
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-6\IL-1β
IL-10 ↑

Eye   (9) Retinal ischemia/reperfusion injuryLiu et al. [41]Oxidant: MDA\4-HNE\8-OHdG ↓
Antioxidant: SOD\CAT\GPX ↑
Apoptosis-related genes: bcl2 ↑
Bax ↓
Apoptosis: caspase-9\caspase-3\MMP9 ↓
(10) Diabetic retinopathyWu et al. [61]Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-1β\VEGF\GFAP ↓
Apoptosis-related miRNA: miR-192-5p ↓
Oxidant-related miRNA: miR-335 ↓

Motor system(11) One-time exhaustive exerciseXin et al. [47]Injury-related biomarker: CK\UN ↓
Antioxidant: T-AOC ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-1β\IL-6 ↓
IL-10 ↑

Cardiovascular system(12) Myocardial ischemia injuryChen et al. [9]Oxidant: MDA\8-OHdG ↓
Antioxidant: SOD\GSH ↑
Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-1β\MPO ↓
Apoptosis-related pathways: Bcl-2/Bax\ASK-1/JNK
Apoptosis: caspase-9\caspase-3\Bax ↓

Skin(13) Skin flap ischemia/reperfusion injurySong et al. [50]Apoptosis-related pathways: Bcl-2/Bax\ASK-1/JNK
Apoptosis: caspase-9\caspase-3\Bax\JNK\ASK-1 ↓
Bcl-2 ↑

Gastrointestinal system(14) Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injuryBoros et al. [8]Oxidant: MPO\SOX ↓
NOx ↑
(15) Acute pancreatitisXie et al. [58]Inflammatory cytokine: TNF-α\IL-6\IFN-γ\IL-10 ↓
Oxidant: MDA ↓
Antioxidant: SOD ↑