Effects of atorvastatin treatment on the oxidatively modified low density lipoprotein in hyperlipidemic patients
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Date
1999-05-01T00:00:00Z
Authors
Zhu, Quansheng
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Abstract
Atorvastatin is a new synthetic lipid-lowering drug. It is a selective, competitive inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. Atorvastatin lowers plasma cholesterol and lipoprotein levels both by inhibiting hepatic cholesterol synthesis and by increasing its cellular uptake as well as influencing the catabolism of LDL through increasing the number of LDL receptors. Atorvastatin can reduce both LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol and triacylglycerol (TG), as well as the number of apolipoprotein B containing particles. The objective of the present study is to investigate whether treatment with atorvastatin alters the biochemical content of oxidized LDL in hyperlipidemic patients and the ability of oxidized LDL in hyperlipidemic patients to impair the endothelium-dependent relaxation. The hypothesis that atorvastatin treatment of hyperlipidemic patients attenuates the ability of oxidized LDL to impair the endothelium-dependent relaxation of the blood vessels forms the basis of this investigation, and we are interested in determining whether such an alteration arises from changes in the content and composition of lysophosphatidylcholine in the oxidized LDL. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)