A Debate on Statins

A Debate on Statins

Statins are commonly prescribed drugs that are generally used by adults over the age of fifty. Their main role is to reduce cholesterol in the body, which is crucial for preventing cardiovascular diseases, myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), and even strokes. There are many benefits to starting the statin medication.

For example, certain types of statins have shown to improve therapeutic potential in vitro regarding autoimmune diseases. In a research article written by Kelly Langert, Bruktawit Goshu, and Evan Stubbs, it is shown that in an in vivo observation, these same statins alleviated disease severity in EAN, an animal model for AIDP. AIDP, or Guillain-Barré Syndrome, is the neurological disease that researched. It is an autoimmune disorder that demyelinates motor neurons. The reason that it is a highly problematic disease is because it requires a long recovery time and the peripheral nervous system neurons cannot regenerate myelin. However, the team’s statin administration enforced better development and progression of the EAN model. They initially found that the drug provided positive clinical therapy when the statins suppressed autoreactive leukocytes from crossing over to endothelial cells that form the blood-brain barrier (Langert 1). This is just one example of how statins can be beneficial for the future of pharmaceutics and medicine. While statins have unarguably contributed significantly to drug therapy, their benefits do not necessarily override their risks and other harmful physiological effects.

            During the seminar, a question arose that asked Stubbs whether neuroscientists liked to administer statins in their research in order to analyze their effects. The answer was no, mostly for reasons that statins caused long-term physical problems. Since the Guillain-Barré Syndrome mostly targets muscle cells, I decided to look into the other negative physiological effects of these widespread drugs.

 

The article, “Do Statins Produce Neurological Effects?” from Scientific American, by Beatrice Alexandra Golomb, clarifies what exactly statins do to other parts of the brain and body. The damage that can arise from people taking these includes muscle symptoms, fatigue, and cognitive problems (Golomb 1). Both Stubbs and Golomb point out that tissue damage in neurons can occur, and that statins actually weakens certain muscles because their mitochondria cease to function. Essentially, muscle tissue wastes away after a certain amount of time. Statins’ effects on every patient vary, and they may play either triggering roles or alleviating roles in recovery. At the end of the talk, Stubbs suggested supplemental statins instead, which would have less of an impact on the peripheral nervous system. Further research must be done to concretely predict whether people over the age of fifty should choose to take this path.

   

Works Cited

Golomb, Beatrice Alexandra. “Do Statins Produce Neurological Effects?” Scientific

American, Springer Nature, www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-statins-produce-neurological-effects/.

Langert, Kelly A., et al. “Attenuation of Experimental Autoimmune Neuritis with

Locally Administered Lovastatin-Encapsulating Poly(Lactic-Co-Glycolic) Acid Nanoparticles.” Journal of Neurochemistry, vol. 140, no. 2, 2016, pp. 334–346., doi:10.1111/jnc.13892.