Atorvastatin protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury

April 23rd, 2014

Diffusion tensor imaging showed that lesions were reduced and fractional anisotropy values decreased in patients with diffuse axonal injury after mild hypothermia therapy compared with normothermia therapy. Credit: Neural Regeneration Research

In addition to its lipid-lowering effect, statins exert anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects as well. Statins also provide protection against renal, pulmonary and myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. However, little evidence is available on similar changes in cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.

Therefore, Dr. Qiuyun Tu and colleagues from Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in China verified that atorvastatin, a commonly used lipid-lowering drug, protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through anti-infammatory and antioxidant effects.

The relevant study has been published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 3, 2014).

More information:
Tu QY, Cao H, Zhong W, Ding BR, Tang XQ. Atorvastatin protects against cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(3):268-275.

Provided by Neural Regeneration Research