The effect of pitavastatin calcium on endothelial dysfunction induced by hypercholesterolemia

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether endothelial function can be improved by the treatment of pitavastatin calcium via its antioxidant properties in hypercholesteremia patients. METHODS: Forty patients with hypercholesteremia were randomized to receive pitavastatin calcium 1 or 2 mg/day for 8 weeks. Among them, four people were lost in the follow-up period. Before and after treatment, clinical and biochemical characteristics, markers of oxidative stress (plasma 8-iso-prostaglandin F(2α) and serum gp91phox) were determined and concomitantly endothelium-dependent brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was measured by ultrasound examination. Thirty healthy subjects were chosen as controls. RESULTS: For individuals with hypercholesteremia, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and serum gp91phox were significantly increased (p<0.001 for all) and plasma 8-iso-prostaglandinF2α (8-iso-PGF2α) was significantly higher (p<0.05), while FMD was obviously impaired (p<0.001). Total cholesterol, LDL-C and serum gp91phox were significantly reduced (p<0.001 for all), plasma 8-iso-PGF2α was lower and FMD was significantly improved after pitavastatin calcium treatment compared with those before treatment in any group (p<0.05 for both). However, there was no significant difference between the 1-mg and 2-mg pitavastatin calcium groups post-therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Endothelial dysfunction induced by hypercholesteremia can be ameliorated by pitavastatin calcium treatment, which occurs in part through its antioxidative properties.