Role of hydrogen sulfide in ischemia-reperfusion injury

Abstract

Ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the major causes of high morbidity, disability, and mortality in the world. I/R injury remains a complicated and unresolved situation in clinical practice, especially in the field of solid organ transplantation. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is the third gaseous signaling molecule and plays a broad range of physiological and pathophysiological roles in mammals. H2S could protect against I/R injury in many organs and tissues, such as heart, liver, kidney, brain, intestine, stomach, hind-limb, lung, and retina. The goal of this review is to highlight recent findings regarding the role of H2S in I/R injury. In this review, we present the production and metabolism of H2S and further discuss the effect and mechanism of H2S in I/R injury.