Pretreatment of simvastatin on liver trace element levels during endotoxemia

Abstract

There are a number of studies investigating anti-inflammatory effects of simvastatin in patients with sepsis and animal models. There are a few studies which investigated effect of simvastatin on elements in sepsis. In the present study, the impact of pretreatment with simvastatin on element levels was evaluated in liver during endotoxemia. Rats were divided into control, LPS, simvastatin, and simvastatin + LPS. The histopathologic examination of the liver was performed using hematoxylin and eosin. Selenium, zinc, iron, manganese, magnesium, and copper were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy. In the LPS, the hepatocyte cell structure was damaged. In the simvastatin + LPS, hepatocyte, and sinusoidal cord damage were partially smaller than LPS. Levels of selenium, and copper significantly decreased in both of LPS and simvastatin + LPS. In the LPS group, iron was found to increase. In the simvastatin + LPS, zinc was increased. Simvastatin partially smaller liver damage by increasing zinc levels during endotoxemia.

Keywords:

• Liver
• sepsis
• simvastatin
• trace elements

Acknowledgements

We would also like to thank Mr. David F. Chapman for editing the English of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Our study was granted by Istanbul University Research Projects (Projects No: 25047, 24325, 22836, 56006).