How a cholesterol drug cuts bad cholesterol in pigs
Inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase by atorvastatin decreases both VLDL and LDL apolipoprotein B production in miniature pigs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
A medicine called atorvastatin was given to pigs that ate a fatty, high-cholesterol diet. It made their livers produce less of the protein that carries bad cholesterol into the blood.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
A medicine called atorvastatin was given to pigs that ate a fatty, high-cholesterol diet. It made their livers produce less of the protein that carries bad cholesterol into the blood.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 511 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Burnett JR, Wilcox LJ, Telford DE, Kleinstiver SJ, Barrett PH, Newton RS, Huff MW
Related Content
Claims (6)
Inhibition of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase reduces circulating LDL cholesterol by decreasing endogenous cholesterol synthesis and upregulating hepatic LDL receptor expression.
The drug seemed to make less of the bad cholesterol particle by turning fewer big particles into smaller ones, but this effect wasn’t strong enough to be sure it wasn’t just chance.
The drug lowered the genetic instructions in the liver for making the bad cholesterol protein, but didn’t change the instructions for clearing it from the blood.
The drug lowered several types of bad fats in the pigs’ blood — including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides — by up to 31%.
Giving pigs a cholesterol-lowering drug called atorvastatin for three weeks made their livers produce less of a key protein (apoB) that helps form bad cholesterol particles, without changing how fast those particles were cleared from the blood.