Statins can stimulate cardiac muscle cell regeneration, improve heart function

Statins, used widely to treat elevated cholesterol, have been shown to prevent progression of coronary narrowing and to have other beneficial effects on the heart, such as reducing inflammation, that are independent of cholesterol. Now, adding to this list of multiple effects, researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown that the drug pravastatin, one of the oldest statins, may be able to prevent the development of heart disease by regenerating diseased heart muscle. In a paper published in the January 2009 issue of Circulation Research, the investigators report that pravastatin mobilizes bone marrow progenitor cells - blood stem cells that are able to transform into many different types of cells - which infiltrate the heart and develop into cardiac muscle cells, or myocytes, improving cardiac function - University at Buffalo