Improved cerebral vasoreactivity after statin administration in healthy adults.
OBJECTIVE
Significant improvements of cerebral vasomotor reactivity during statin treatment were found in patients with cerebral small-vessel disease. The authors analyzed the cerebrovascular CO(2) reactivity before and after statin administration in healthy adults using a case-control study design.


METHODS
The mean cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) of both middle cerebral arteries and the vasomotor reserve capacity (VMRC) were measured by repeated and simultaneous bilateral transcranial Doppler sonography in 25 healthy adults (7 men, mean age 28.8 years [95% confidence interval (CI): 25.7; 31.9]) before, during (days 1, 3, 7, and 14), and after administration of 40 mg pravastatin for 14 days as compared to 10 healthy control persons (4 men, mean age 30.6 years [95% CI: 22.9; 38.3]). The VMRC was calculated off-line as the percentage change of CBFV per 1% increase in end-tidal CO2 by a blinded investigator.


RESULTS
In the statin group, 5 persons were excluded from further analysis. In the remaining 20 volunteers, the authors observed a highly significant effect of statin administration on VMRC (P = .002). The VMRC was significantly increased after statin administration on day 7 as compared to the initial value (3.03 [95% CI: 2.67; 3.38] vs 2.64 [95% CI: 2.41; 2.86]; P = .04). The effect was most pronounced in patients with lower initial VMRC values. In the control group, the VMRC did not differ significantly from baseline at different time intervals.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings indicate an improvement of cerebral vasoreactivity even after short-term statin administration in healthy adults. However, this effect was related to baseline vasoreactivity.
Sander
K
K
Department of Neurology, Technical University of Munich, Möhlstr. 28, 81675 München, Germany. K.Sander@neuro.med.tu-muenchen.de
Hof
U
U
Poppert
H
H
Conrad
B
B
Sander
D
D
D000328:Adult; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D017035:Pravastatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial; D014666:Vasomotor System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D017035:Pravastatin