Currently, therapeutic angiogenesis using gene transfer of angiogenic growth factors has entered the realm of novel therapy for patients with critical limb ischemia. However, its clinical utility might be enhanced by combination with classical pharmacological approaches. Thus, in this study, we examined adjunctive therapy to enhance the angiogenic effects of gene transfer, with HMG-CoA reductas...

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a novel fibrotic mediator, which is considered to mediate fibrosis through extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis in diabetic cardiovascular complications. Statins have significant immunomodulatory effects and reduce vascular injury. We therefore examined whether fluvastatin has anti-fibrotic effects in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and elucidated ...

Feeding rats with a high-fructose diet induced insulin resistance, leading to hypertension or metabolic disorders. Although hypertension is known to accelerate osteoporosis, it is not obvious whether insulin resistance would accelerate osteoporosis. In this study, we evaluated whether osteoporosis might accelerate in fructose-fed rats (FFR), and examined the effect of fluvastatin through a bloc...

OBJECTIVE We investigated the effects of fluvastatin on hypoxia-induced (1 to 3 weeks, 10% O2) pulmonary hypertension with focus on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity. METHODS AND RESULTS Oral fluvastatin treatment (1 mg/kg daily) prevented the causing and progression of pulmonary hypertension as determined by the right ventricular pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and m...

While statins significantly reduce cholesterol levels and thereby reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, the development of myopathy with statin use is a significant clinical side effect. Recent guidelines recommend increasing inclusion criteria for statin treatment in diabetic individuals; however, the impact of statins on skeletal muscle health in those with diabetes (who already suffer f...

the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum) with that of lovastatin in restoration of endothelia function in the aorta taken form aged n-mair rats. for this purpose, 4 groups of old n-mari rats were used (n=6), normal saline treated control group, lovastatin (10 mg/kg, orally) and fengreek seed powder in normal saline suspension (100 or 500 mg...

The goals of this work were to establish a reproducible and effective model of apoptosis in a cell line derived from advanced prostate cancer and to study the role of the caspase family of proteases in mediating apoptosis in this system. The study involved the use of the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Apoptosis was induced using the hydroxymethyl glutaryl CoA reductase inhibitor, lovastatin, ...

Cholesterol synthesis inhibitors and fibrates both exercise effects that could influence BP and renal function in hypertension. To test this issue, transit-time ultrasound flow probes, implanted optical fibers, and laser-Doppler flowmetry were used for measurements of total and regional renal blood flows in lovastatin (40 mg/kg body wt) and bezafibrate (50 mg/kg body wt) chronically treated deo...

PURPOSE To examine HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (statin) drug dispensing patterns to Nova Scotia Seniors' Pharmacare program (NSSPP) beneficiaries over a 14-year period in response to: 1) rosuvastatin market entry in 2003, 2) JUPITER trial publication in 2008, and 3) generic atorvastatin availability in 2010. METHODS All NSSPP beneficiaries who redeemed at least one prescription for a statin f...

OBJECTIVE To examine the risk of new onset diabetes among patients treated with different HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins). DESIGN Population based cohort study with time to event analyses to estimate the relation between use of particular statins and incident diabetes. Hazard ratios were calculated to determine the effect of dose and type of statin on the risk of incident diabetes. S...