الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Background and aims: Statins are the cornerstone drugs in reducing cardiovascular diseases incidence and improving rate of survival. Regardless of its clinical benefits, the most well documented adverse effect of its use is statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMSs). MSCs are multipotent stromal cells that can differentiate into a variety of lineages. Intermittent fasting (IF) is a broad term describing patterns of eating. It has potential valuable effects on health. Thus, we aimed in this work to: Assess and compare the influence of stem cell therapy and fasting on statin-induced myopathy of skeletal muscle in rats, clarify the possible role of autophagy.Methods: The animals were randomly divided into five groups (8 rats each) as follows: group I served as the control group. group II (myopathy group) rats were given a daily oral dose of simvastatin for 30 days. group III (discontinuation group) rats were given simvastatin for 30 days and were left without treatment for 15 days. group IV (the intravenous stem cell group) rats were given simvastatin for 30 days and then a single stem cell injection was administered intravenously. group V (the intermittent fasting group) rats were given simvastatin for 30 days and then an intermittent fasting protocol was started.Results: simvastatin showed significant deterioration in the contractile parameters, significant increase in the serum levels of ck and reduction in cross sectional area of the muscle, significant increase in LC3 and P62 expression in the muscle together with significant atrophic changes as detected by istopathological examination. MSCs injection and intermittent fasting induced pronounced skeletal muscle regeneration with improvement of functions. They significantly restored all these alterations which were confirmed by histopathological improvement.Conclusions: Mesenchymal stem cells and intermittent fasting improve autophagy and ameliorating the myopathic changes. The improvement recorded in intermittent fasting group is significantly better than that observed with MSC injected groups |