Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, United States.
Neurosci Lett. 2011 Aug 26;501(2):92-5. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2011.06.054. Epub 2011 Jul 8.
Statins have been suggested to protect against Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, however, we reported that aged dogs that underwent chronic statin treatment exhibited cognitive deficits compared with age matched controls. In human studies, blood levels of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) decrease with statin use. CoQ10 is important for proper mitochondrial function and is a powerful antioxidant, two important factors for cognitive health in aging. Thus, the current study tested the hypothesis that CoQ10 levels in the serum and/or parietal cortex are decreased in statin treated dogs and are associated with poorer cognition. Six aged beagles (>8 years) were administered 80 mg/day of atorvastatin for 14.5 months and compared with placebo-treated animals. As predicted, serum CoQ10 was significantly lower in statin-treated dogs. Parietal cortex CoQ10 was not different between the two groups. However, poorer cognition was correlated with lower parietal cortex CoQ10. This study in dogs suggests that serum CoQ10 is reduced with atorvastatin treatment. CoQ10 levels in brain may be linked to impaired cognition in response to atorvastatin, in agreement with previous reports that statins may have a negative impact on cognition in the elderly.
他汀类药物被认为可以预防阿尔茨海默病（AD）。然而，最近我们报道称，接受慢性他汀类药物治疗的老年犬与年龄匹配的对照组相比表现出认知缺陷。在人类研究中，辅酶 Q10（CoQ10）的血液水平随着他汀类药物的使用而降低。CoQ10 对线粒体功能正常和抗氧化至关重要，这是衰老认知健康的两个重要因素。因此，本研究检验了这样一个假设，即他汀类药物治疗的犬血清和/或顶叶皮层中的 CoQ10 水平降低，并与认知功能较差相关。六只老年比格犬（>8 岁）每天给予 80 毫克阿托伐他汀治疗 14.5 个月，并与安慰剂治疗的动物进行比较。正如预测的那样，他汀类药物治疗犬的血清 CoQ10 显著降低。两组之间顶叶皮层 CoQ10 无差异。然而，较差的认知与较低的顶叶皮层 CoQ10 相关。这项犬类研究表明，阿托伐他汀治疗会降低血清 CoQ10。大脑中的 CoQ10 水平可能与阿托伐他汀引起的认知障碍有关，这与先前的报告一致，即他汀类药物可能对老年人的认知能力产生负面影响。
