Rosuvastatin Inhibits Atherosclerosis In Apolipoprotein E Knockout Mice

OBJECTIVES:To study the effect of rosuvastatin on atherosc-lerosis and potential mechanism in ApoE-knockout mice.METHODS:Eighteen 6-week-old ApoE-/-mice were used as atherosclerosis models,twelve 6-week-old C57/BL6 mice were used as control. ApoE-/- mice were feed with high fat diet while C57/BL6 mice were feed with normal diet.After twelve weeks,six mice form ApoE-/-and C57/BL6 group respectively were chosen randomly to test whether ApoE-/- mice are suffering atherosclerosis.Then ApoE-/-mice were devided into two groups:model group(n=6) and Rosuvastatin group(n=6,10mg/kg/d,intragastric administration).After treatment for twelve weeks,blood was collected for plasma lipid detection.Aorta was prepared for morphologic study(HE,Oil red O,Masson)and immunohistochemical analysis(α-SMA,TGF-β1,Mac-3).RESULTS:Compared to C57/BL6 group,plasma lipid of model group is much higher (p< 0.05).There are obviously aortic atherosclerotic lesions in artery walls.The expressions ofα-SMA/TGF-β1 and Mac-3 are all incresed (p<0.05, p<0.001, p< 0.01).While compared to model group,treatment with rosuvastatin did not significantly affect either plasma lipid or the area of aortic atherosclerotic lesions. However,rosuvastatin treatment reduced TGF-β1 and Mac-3 expression in the aortic atherosclerotic lesions (p<0.05),which is one of the anti-atherosclerotic effects of rosuvastatin.Rosuvastatin treatment was also reduced lipid deposition and increased collagen deposition in the aortic atherosclerotic lesions.CONCLUSION:Altogether,rosuvastatin has anti-inflammatory effect in atherosclerosis of apoE-/- mice.It reduced lipid deposition and increases collagen deposition in the aortic atherosclerotic lesions which is good for plaque stabilization.The anti-atherosclerotic effects of rosuvastatin is independent of decreasing plasma lipid.