The effects of antilipidemic rosuvastatin and pravastatin in the experimental diabetes model

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of antilipidemic rosuvastatin and pravastatin in experimental diabetes model. Materials and Methods: In this study, 42 adult female Wistar albino rats were used. Rats were divided into 6 equal groups. 1) Healthy control group, 2) Diabetic control group, 3) PRV10 group, 10 mg/kg/day pravastatin was administered to rats in this group. 4) PRV20 group, 20 mg/kg/day pravastatin was administered to rats in this group. 5) RSV10 group, 10 mg/kg/day rosuvastatin was administered to in this group. 6) RSV20 group, 20 mg/kg/day rosuvastatin was administered to rats in this group. Except healthy control group, the other rats received 40 mg/kg single dose intraperitoneal streptozotocin injection. At the end of the eight-week experimental period, body weights, fasting blood glucose levels, fasting blood insulin levels, blood lipid parameters and liver glucose metabolism enzyme levels were determined. Results: While pravastatin caused a decrease in fasting blood glucose, rosuvastatin caused an increase in fasting blood glucose. Both statin treatments successfully reduced high blood lipid levels, particularly TC and LDL-C. However, there was no significant difference between the 10 mg doses and the 20 mg doses of both statins. Pravastatin was found to cause an increase in liver glycogen, glycogen synthase (GS), pyruvate kinase (PK), hexokinase (HK) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) levels and a decrease in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBP1) and glycogen phosphorylase (GP) levels, whereas rosuvastatin had the opposite effect. Conclusion: Pravastatin positively affected diabetes-related parameters, whereas rosuvastatin negatively affected.