In mice, super high doses of certain cholesterol drugs seem to lower the activity of an important brain enzyme across the body, including in the brain, just a couple of hours after taking them.

When male mice get really high doses of statins, they act differently — like moving less or exploring less — and their brain chemistry changes too. Scientists think the way statins affect a certain brain enzyme might be why this happens.

In male mice given very high doses of statins, the brain and blood show some recovery in a key enzyme within a day, but the enzyme in red blood cells stays low — suggesting different parts of the body bounce back at different rates.

Giving really high doses of certain cholesterol drugs to male mice might make them move slower and explore less — the higher the dose, the worse the effect seems to be.