An injectable hydrogen-producing bacteria hydrogel for cardiac repair in rodent and porcine models.

Luo, Li; Xiao, Yingxian; Lao, Qiaocong; Ai, Jiacong; Zhou, Xiaohan; Wang, Gang; Ma, Yichuan; Hu, Shiqi et al. · Nat Biomed Eng · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Cardioprotective effects of current therapies for mitigating ischaemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury have had limited success. The major challenge is to effectively control oxidative stress while preserving mitochondrial function in a timely manner. Hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) selectively reduces cytotoxic oxygen radicals, aiding in the regulation of physiological and pathological functions. However, the efficacy of H<sub>2</sub> therapy is highly dependent on the amount and rate of H<sub>2</sub> release, making it critically important to develop rapid, simple and efficient techniques for evolving therapeutic H<sub>2</sub>. Here we encapsulate H<sub>2</sub>-producing photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) in an injectable porcine dermal extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel to facilitate cardiac I/R injury repair. Upon light exposure, sustained and high H<sub>2</sub> production from PSB hydrogel preserves mitochondrial homeostasis and essential functions. In a porcine model of cardiac I/R injury, PSB hydrogel treatment effectively mitigates myocardial damage and salvages jeopardized myocardium. We anticipate that this bacterial therapy for photosynthetic H<sub>2</sub> production could provide an improved treatment for I/R-related diseases.