About the Authors

Takanori Oikawa

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Kana Akinaga

Roles Investigation, Visualization

Affiliation Department of Systems Design Engineering, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Megumi Yanagida

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Wataru Yamazaki

Roles Data curation, Investigation, Visualization, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Tomoko Sato

Roles Methodology, Resources

Affiliation Research Laboratory, Local Power Co., Ltd., Akita, Japan

Yuki Mukoda

Roles Methodology, Resources

Affiliation Research Laboratory, Local Power Co., Ltd., Akita, Japan

Koya Terada

Roles Methodology, Resources, Supervision

Affiliation Research Laboratory, Local Power Co., Ltd., Akita, Japan

Yuriko Fujii

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Misako Higashiya

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Shinji Yamasaki

Roles Supervision, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Graduate School of Veterinary Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan, Asian Health Science Research Institute, Osaka P Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan, Osaka International Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan

Takahiro Adachi

Roles Investigation, Supervision, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Systems Design Engineering, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Shinsuke Seki

Roles Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

sseki@gipc.akita-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Experimental Animal Division, Bioscience Education and Research Support Center, Akita University, Akita, Japan

Competing Interests

This study was conducted as a collaborative research project with Local Power Co., Ltd., which provided financial support and supplied slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW, iPOSH). Some authors (T.S., Y.M., and K.T.) are employees of Local Power Co., Ltd.; however, their involvement was limited to pre-shipment performance testing of SAEW, including available chlorine concentration, pH, and basic quality assessment. All animal experiments, data collection, and evaluation of SAEW effects were conducted independently at Akita University. All analyses were performed objectively and scientifically, and this does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on data and material sharing.