Article
Simvastatin and Muscle: Zebrafish and Chicken Show that the Benefits are not Worth the Damage
Registro en:
CAMPOS, Laise M. et al. Simvastatin and Muscle: Zebrafish and Chicken Show that the Benefits are not Worth the Damage. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, v. 10, Article 778901, p. 1 - 7, Mar. 2022.
2296-634X
10.3389/fcell.2022.778901
Autor
Campos, Laise M.
Guapyassu, Livia
Gomes, Cyro
Midlej, Victor
Benchimol, Marlene
Mermelstein, Claudia
Costa, Manoel Luis
Resumen
Simvastatin is one of the most common medicines prescribed to treat human
hypercholesterolemia. Simvastatin acts through the inhibition of cholesterol synthesis.
Unfortunately, simvastatin causes unwanted side effects on muscles, such as soreness,
tiredness, or weakness. Therefore, to understand the mechanism of action of simvastatin, it
is important to study its physiological and structural impacts on muscle in varied animal models.
Here we report on the effects of simvastatin on two biological models: zebrafish embryos and
chicken muscle culture. In the last years, our group and others showed that simvastatin
treatment in zebrafish embryos reduces fish movements and induces major structural
alterations in skeletal muscles. We also showed that simvastatin and membrane cholesterol
depletion induce major changes in proliferation and differentiation of muscle cells in chick
muscle cultures. Here, we review and discuss these observations considering reported data on
the use of simvastatin as a potential therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.