Atorvastatin calcium

Consider the following: hederagenin (purity 95%), Nanjing Spring and Autumn Biological Engineering Co., Ltd, batch number: 20131020; vitamin D₃, specifications: 1 mL: 7.5 mg, Shanghai General Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., batch number: 121123; atorvastatin calcium (Lipitor), specifications: 20 mg ∗ 7 tablets, Pfizer, batch number: H54107; sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na), Shanghai Bohu Biological Technology Co., batch number: 20130513.

Aged C57BL/6 mice (20 months old) were ordered from the Capital Medical University experimental animal center and were housed in sterile cages under standard animal housing conditions (relative humidity: 55%–60%; temperature: 22 ± 1°C; 12:12 h light/dark cycle). The mice were divided into six groups (n = 24 mice per group):
control group (normal saline as placebo), atorvastatin group (20 mg/kg atorvastatin treatment), isoflurane group (1.5% isoflurane exposure for 6 h), 5 mg/kg atorvastatin + isoflurane group, 10 mg/kg atorvastatin + isoflurane group, and 20 mg/kg atorvastatin + isoflurane group.
The three doses (5, 10, or 20 mg/kg) of atorvastatin (Lipitor Atorvastatin calcium, Pfizer) were administered orally to the mice every day for 7 days. Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, the mice received 1.5% isoflurane anesthesia for 6 h with 21% oxygen. The temperature was maintained between 33 and 35°C. The mice administered with normal saline or 21% oxygen alone were normal controls; mice that received isoflurane alone were isoflurane control; mice receiving 20 mg/kg atorvastatin alone were atorvastatin control. Then, ten mice were randomly selected from each group, to received behavioral tests 1 day after anesthesia.

SBC-115076 was acquired from Selleck Chemicals (Houston, TX, United States). Atorvastatin calcium (Lipitor) was procured from Pfizer. The cholesterol Kit was obtained from Nanjing Jiancheng Bioengineering Institute (Nanjing, China). Mouse targets for the atherosclerosis-related gene qPCR array were sourced from Wcgene Biotech (Shanghai, China). The PCR primers were provided by the Beijing Genomics Institute (Beijing, China). All other chemicals were of analytical grade and were purchased from standard commercial suppliers.

Here, 9–10-week-old male db/db mice were purchased from the Model Animal Research Center of Nanjing University (Nanjing, China) and maintained under a 12:12-h light–dark cycle. All the animal experiments were approved by the Animal Research Committee of Chengdu Medical College (Chengdu, China). The mice were randomly assigned to four groups and exposed to the following interventions: vehicle group (DM group, n = 8), mice treated with sterilized water; metformin group (MT group, n = 8), mice treated with 200 mg/kg/day of metformin; atorvastatin group (AVS group, n = 8), mice treated with 10 mg/kg/day of atorvastatin; and atorvastatin/metformin combination group (MT + AVS group, n = 8), mice treated with combination of 200 mg/kg/day of metformin and 10 mg/kg/day of atorvastatin. Metformin hydrochloride tablets were purchased from Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York, NY, USA), and atorvastatin calcium was purchased from Pfizer (New York, NY, USA). Both drugs were dissolved in sterilized water and administrated by gastric gavage (orally) once per day for 3 months.