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Simvastatin reduces myosteatosis after skeletal muscle injury (1163.19)
Author(s) -
Korn Michael,
Davis Max,
Gumucio Jonathan,
Mendias Christopher
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1163.19
Subject(s) - simvastatin , skeletal muscle , medicine , fibrosis , muscle hypertrophy , muscle atrophy , adipose tissue , endocrinology , rotator cuff , chemistry , anatomy
Chronic skeletal muscle injuries or tears can lead to the induction of myosteatosis, which is muscle atrophy combined with an accumulation of lipid plaques. Simvastatin is a drug that has demonstrated the ability to prevent lipid accumulation in other injured tissues. We hypothesized that administering simvastatin would reduce myosteatosis following muscle injuries. As the rotator cuff muscle group is especially prone to the development of myosteatosis, to test our hypothesis we performed a full‐thickness supraspinatus tenectomy and administered vehicle or simvastatin for 4 weeks. Compared to controls, simvastatin treatment increased muscle fiber specific force by 19% and decreased visible fat around fibers. Expression of several genes associated with fat accumulation, inflammation, macrophage accumulation, and extracellular matrix fibrosis was significantly decreased. Simvastatin also reduced the percent of pathological type IIB muscle fibers by 39%. These results suggest that simvastatin can protect muscles from the development of myosteatosis, and be useful in the clinical treatment of chronic muscle injuries and tears.