Department of Aviation and Diving Medicine, the Sixth Medical Center, General Hospital of People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100048, China.
Department of Navy Aviation Medicine, Faculty of Naval Medicine, the Naval Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2020;21(8):593-602. doi: 10.1631/jzus.B1900629.
Methane is the simplest hydrocarbon, consisting of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. It is abundant in marsh gas, livestock rumination, and combustible ice. Little is known about the use of methane in human disease treatment. Current research indicates that methane is useful for treating several diseases including ischemia and reperfusion injury, and inflammatory diseases. The mechanisms underlying the protective effects of methane appear primarily to involve anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and anti-apoptosis. In this review, we describe the beneficial effects of methane on different diseases, summarize possible mechanisms by which methane may act in these conditions, and discuss the purpose of methane production in hypoxic conditions. Then we propose several promising directions for the future research.
甲烷是最简单的烃类,由一个碳原子和四个氢原子组成。它存在于沼气、牲畜反刍和可燃冰中。目前人们对甲烷在人类疾病治疗中的应用知之甚少。目前的研究表明,甲烷对几种疾病有治疗作用,包括缺血再灌注损伤和炎症性疾病。甲烷发挥保护作用的机制主要涉及抗氧化、抗炎和抗细胞凋亡。在这篇综述中,我们描述了甲烷对不同疾病的有益作用,总结了甲烷在这些情况下可能发挥作用的机制,并讨论了在缺氧条件下产生甲烷的目的。然后,我们提出了未来研究的几个有前途的方向。