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The benefits of long-term treatment with statins are well established - they lower cholesterol and prevent heart attacks and strokes. Now a novel beneficial action of statins is reported in a study published online this week in the British Journal of Pharmacology.
The study suggests this action only needs a few days of treatment, is independent of cholesterol lowering and helps the heart to recover after a heart attack. Following a heart attack, blood does not flow correctly into vessels in the heart, even once they are open again. Increasing the blood flow in these vessels would decrease the area known as "no-reflow" and restore more of the ventricular function. Jing-Lin ZHAO and colleagues demonstrate decreased "no-reflow" and better preservation of ventricular function in animals treated for only two days with a statin called simvastatin. They also identify the mechanism underlying this cardioprotective action, showing that the observed beneficial effects of simavastatin are abolished by blocking the KATP channel in mitochondria. The results suggest that taking statins long-term not only reduces the likelihood of a heart attack, it could also allow the heart to recover more fully from heart attacks by decreasing the damage done to heart muscle. Author contact: Yuejin Yang (Fuwai Heart Hospital, Beijing, China)
Email: realplayone@yahoo.com.cn (C) British Journal of Pharmacology press release.
Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza
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