Effect of Simvastain on cholesterol metabolism and SR-A in THP-1 foam cell

Objective To study the effect of Simvastatin on the expression of scavenger receptor class A(SR-A) and the cholesterol metabolism in THP-1 macrophage-derived foam cells.Methods The THP-1 cells were stimulated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate(50 nmol/L) for 48 hours and transformed to macrophages.Macrophages were co-incubated with 100 mg/L oxidized low density lipoprotein(ox-LDL) and simvastatin.The cellular lipid accumulation was examined by oil red O staining.High performance liquid chromatography was used for qualitative and quantitative analysis of intracellular cholesterol and cholesterol esters.The expression of SR-A was detected by Western Blot.Results Compared to the ox-LDL group,oil red O-positive cells and cellular contents of cholesterol ester in Simvastatin group were greatly reduced(all P0.01).The activity of SR-A was also significantly decreased(P0.01).Simvastatin significantly attenuated these changes in a dose-dependent manner.Conclusions The datas suggest that Simvastatin is capable of inhibiting the formation of foam cells,which may be partly due to reduced SR-A expression and uptake of ox-LDL in macrophages.