Jun Zhang,
Huawei Tian,
Yuping Li 
For correspondence:- Yuping Li Email: yuping.lih@gmail.com Tel:+867103420031
Accepted: 13 October 2021 Published: 30 November 2021
Citation: Zhang J, Tian H, Li Y. Comparing efficacy and safety of plasmapheresis versus atorvastatin in pathological progression of atherosclerosis in a rodent model. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(11):2347-2353 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i11.17
© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Purpose: To evaluate the effect of plasmapheresis versus atorvastatin in pathological progression of atherosclerosis in a rodent model.
Methods: A total of 90 male adult rats of up to 300 g were randomly distributed in three groups (n = 30): group 1 (plasmapheresis up to 1.5 ml daily); group 2 (atorvastatin 0.1 mg/kg per day), and group 3 (hypercholesteremic rats). The following variables were assessed for 24 weeks: plasma and hepatic lipid and anti-oxidant profiles; atherosclerotic abrasions/lesions; coronary atherosclerosis/coronary stenosis score (CSS), composition of atherosclerotic lesions, incidence of xanthoma, arch and thoracic surface involvement including arch and thoracic area occupied by lesion; and thoracic aorta (I/M) ratio.
Results: Compared to rats administered with atorvastatin, the rats treated with plasmapheresis had significantly greater improvement in levels of triglycerides (132 vs 124 mg/dl, p < 0.05), total cholesterol (201 vs 189 mg/dl, p < 0.05)), low-density lipoproteins (134 vs 123 mg/dl, p < 0.05)), very-low-density lipoprotein (11 vs 9 mg/dl, p < 0.05)) and high-density lipoprotein (36 vs 39 mg/dl, p < 0.05) levels. Plasmapheresis after 24 weeks of treatment improve CSS in all coronary arteries than atorvastatin (22 vs 24 respectively; p < 0.05. Furthermore, lesioned composition, I/M ratio and xanthoma incidence were significantly lower in plasmapheresis group than in atorvastatin group (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Plasmapheresis is a better alternative than atorvastatin in preventing pathological progression of atherosclerosis.
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