Abstract
BackgroundAtherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is one of the major diseases that seriously impacts human health. Combined drug therapy may be efficacious in delaying the occurrence of cardiovascular events.AimThe current study was designed to investigate whether combined use of probucol (an anti-oxidant agent) with cilostazol (a platelet aggregation inhibitor) would increase the inhibitory effect of statins (a lipid-lowering agent) on atherosclerosis in moderately hypercholesterolemic rabbits.Methods and ResultsThirty Japanese white rabbits were fed with a high cholesterol diet for 12 weeks, which was supplemented with either 0.005 % atorvastatin alone or 0.005 % atorvastatin plus 0.3 % probucol and 0.3 % cilostazol. Except for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, no difference was found in plasma lipids among vehicle, statin, and the combined treatment group. However, atherosclerotic lesions were significantly reduced by statin treatment compared with vehicle. Moreover, we found that the anti-atherogenic effect of statin was further enhanced by the combined treatment, which was due to increased anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.ConclusionsThese data demonstrated that combined drug treatment exhibits potent athero-protective effects via pleiotropic functions, such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress, which is independent of the lipid-lowering effect.
Highlights
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the foremost cause of disability and mortality in both developed and developing countries [1,2,3]
These data demonstrated that combined drug treatment exhibits potent athero-protective effects via pleiotropic functions, such as anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative stress, which is independent of the lipid-lowering effect
Gross lesion of aortic atherosclerosis In this experiment, even in the absence of a significant lipid-lowering effect, both statin and APC treatment led to a significant decrease in atherosclerotic gross lesions
Summary
Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the foremost cause of disability and mortality in both developed and developing countries [1,2,3]. Atherosclerosis is a multifactorial disease and progresses slowly throughout the human life; treatment of atherosclerosis requires many therapeutic strategies. Hydroxylmethyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, are widely used for treating hyperlipidemia [4,5,6,7]. Statins intolerance is frequently encountered in clinical practice [12, 13]. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is one of the major diseases that seriously impacts human health. Combined drug therapy may be efficacious in delaying the occurrence of cardiovascular events
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
