Treatment With Statins After Induction of Focal Ischemia in Rats Reduces the Extent of Brain Damage
- 1 February 2003
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
- Vol. 23 (2), 322-327
- https://doi.org/10.1161/01.atv.0000044458.23905.3b
Abstract
Objective— In the present study, MRI has been used to investigate therapeutic intervention with statins in a model of permanent focal cerebral ischemia in rat. Methods and Results— Brain ischemia was induced in rats by the permanent occlusion of middle cerebral artery (MCAO) and the brain infarct size followed up in alive animals 2, 24, and 48 hours after MCAO, using the trace of apparent diffusion coefficient [Tr(D)] maps and T2-weighted images. In vehicle-treated rats, the infarct volumes increased by 38.5% and 89% after 24 and 48 hours, respectively, compared with the damage detected at 2 hours after MCAO. Treatment with simvastatin (20 mg/kg) after MCAO prevented the increase in brain infarct volume occurring at 24 hours and induced a 46.6% reduction after 48 hours. This effect was similar to that observed when simvastatin was administered before the induction of focal ischemia. T2W-MRI images confirmed these findings. The neuroprotective effects of simvastatin were paralleled by an increase in endothelial NO synthase immunoreactivity, detectable in the brain of simvastatin-treated rats. Conclusions— Statins, in addition to their preventive effect on cerebral ischemia, exert a neuroprotective role in the attenuation of brain damage after acute stroke.Keywords
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- MRI Analysis of the Changes in Apparent Water Diffusion Coefficient, T2 Relaxation Time, and Cerebral Blood Flow and Volume in the Temporal Evolution of Cerebral Infarction Following Permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion in RatsExperimental Neurology, 2001
- ErratumAtherosclerosis, 1998
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Acute StrokeJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 1998
- Effect of HMGcoA Reductase Inhibitors on StrokeAnnals of Internal Medicine, 1998
- Lovastatin and phenylacetate inhibit the induction of nitric oxide synthase and cytokines in rat primary astrocytes, microglia, and macrophages.JCI Insight, 1997
- Cholesterol, diastolic blood pressure, and stroke: 13 000 strokes in 450 000 people in 45 prospective cohortsThe Lancet, 1995
- Inferring microstructural features and the physiological state of tissues from diffusion‐weighted imagesNMR in Biomedicine, 1995
- Diffusion‐weighted NMR imaging: Application to experimental focal cerebral ischemiaNMR in Biomedicine, 1995
- Water diffusion and acute strokeMagnetic Resonance in Medicine, 1994
- Focal Cerebral Ischaemia in the Rat: 1. Description of Technique and Early Neuropathological Consequences following Middle Cerebral Artery OcclusionJournal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 1981