Article

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that a combination of
atorvastatin and sildenafil promotes recovery in an additive manner after
ischemic stroke in mice. DESIGN: Adult C57BL/6 mice (n = 67) were subjected to
transient middle cerebral artery occlusion. Vehicle-control (H2O), atorvastatin
(0.3 mg/kg), sildenafil (0.3 mg/kg), or combined atorvastatin (0.3 mg/kg) and
sildenafil (0.3 mg/kg) were administrated via oral gavage daily for 6 days
starting 24 hrs after ischemia. Behavioral studies including neurologic score and
adhesive removal test were performed before surgery and on postoperative days 1
and 7; cylinder test was performed before surgery and on postoperative day 7.
Mice were killed after 7 days and brain slices were stained with hematoxylin and
eosin to measure the infarct volume. RESULTS: The combination group performed
significantly better in the adhesive removal test (mean +/- SD) (50 +/- 54 secs)
as compared with the control group (147 +/- 109 secs) (P < 0.05) and to
atorvastatin (144 +/- 102 secs) (P < 0.05) but did not show statistically
significant improvement as compared with sildenafil (107 +/- 115 secs) (P =
0.148). There were no significant differences among the groups in neurologic
score and cylinder test. There was no significant difference in the infarct
volume. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that combined atorvastatin and sildenafil
generates a better functional outcome as compared with atorvastatin-only
treatment, but not sildenafil-only treatment, in one of multiple variables
tested.

Langue : ANGLAIS