Key result
Atorvastatin significantly worsened glucose disposal (p=0.008) and both statins increased muscle fatty acid content by up to 100% in high sucrose fed rats.
Why the study?
Statins can induce hyperglycemia in patients, but limited studies have assessed whether they worsen glucose tolerance in high sucrose fed models and their molecular mechanisms.
Do statins exacerbate glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia in a high sucrose fed pre-diabetic rodent model?
Do statins exacerbate glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia in a high sucrose fed pre-diabetic rodent model?
p-value: p=0.008
In a pre-diabetic rodent model, statins (particularly atorvastatin) exacerbated glucose intolerance and hyperglycemia by promoting fatty acid accumulation and impairing insulin signaling in skeletal muscle.
Statins may worsen glucose tolerance on high-sucrose diets in animals; leaves open mechanisms and human relevance.
Statins are first-line therapy drugs for cholesterol lowering. While they are highly effective at lowering cholesterol, they have propensity to induce hyperglycemia in patients. Only limited studies have been reported which studied the impact of statins on (a) whether they can worsen glucose tolerance in a high sucrose fed animal model and (b) if so, what could be the molecular mechanism. We designed studies using high sucrose fed animals to explore the above questions. The high sucrose fed animals were treated with atorvastatin and simvastatin, the two most prescribed statins. We examined the effects of statins on hyperglycemia, glucose tolerance, fatty acid accumulation and insulin signaling. We found that chronic treatment with atorvastatin made the animals hyperglycemic and glucose intolerant in comparison with diet alone. Treatment with both statins lead to fatty acid accumulation and inhibition of insulin signaling in the muscle tissue at multiple points in the pathway.
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Seshadri et al. (2019) studied High sucrose diet-induced pre-diabetes (n=45). Atorvastatin and Simvastatin vs. High sucrose diet alone was evaluated on Glucose disposal (OGTT) at 30 days (p=0.008). Atorvastatin significantly worsened glucose disposal (p=0.008) and both statins increased muscle fatty acid content by up to 100% in high sucrose fed rats.
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