Author contributions:Angélica María Sabogal: conducted the experiments, collected and discussed results, and prepared the manuscript. César Augusto Arango: consulted on cerebral ischemia procedures and nigrostriatal physiology; discussed results and reviewed the manuscript. Gloria Patricia Cardona: managed and supervised experiments; reviewed scientific merit; performed input protein analysis; reviewed, revised and approved the manuscript; submitted the manuscript. Ángel Enrique Céspedes: approved the project; managed and supervised the study; analyzed and interpreted the results, discussions and conclusions; reviewed and approved the manuscript. Introduction: Cerebral ischemia is the third leading cause of death and the primary cause of permanent disability worldwide. Atorvastatin is a promising drug with neuroprotective effects that may be useful for the treatment of stroke. However, the effects of atorvastatin on specific neuronal populations within the nigrostriatal system following cerebral ischemia are unknown. Objective: To evaluate the effects of atorvastatin on dopaminergic and GABAergic neuronal populations in exofocal brain regions in a model of transient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Materials and methods: Twenty-eight male eight-week-old Wistar rats were used in this study. Both sham and ischemic rats were treated with atorvastatin (10 mg/kg) or carboxymethylcellulose (placebo) by gavage at 6, 24, 48 and 72 hours post-reperfusion. We analyzed the immunoreactivity of glutamic acid decarboxylase and tyrosine hydroxylase in the globus pallidus, caudate putamen and substantia nigra. Results: We observed neurological damage and cell loss in the caudate putamen following ischemia. We also found an increase in tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in the medial globus pallidus and substantia nigra reticulata, as well as a decrease in glutamic acid decarboxylase immunoreactivity in the lateral globus pallidus in ischemic animals treated with a placebo. However, atorvastatin treatment was able to reverse these effects, significantly decreasing tyrosine hydroxylase levels in the medial globus pallidus and substantia nigra reticulata and significantly increasing glutamic acid decarboxylase levels in the lateral globus pallidus. Conclusion: Our data suggest that post-ischemia treatment with atorvastatin can have neuroprotective effects in exofocal regions far from the ischemic core by modulating the GABAergic and dopaminergic neuronal populations in the nigrostriatal system, which could be useful for preventing neurological disorders. Atorvastatin protectsKey words: GABAergic neurons, dopaminergic neurons, brain ischemia; models, animal; rats. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v34i2.1851La atorvastatina protege las neuronas gabérgicas y dopaminérgicas del sistema nigroestriatal en un modelo experimental de isquemia cerebral focal transitoria en ratas Introducción. La isquemia cerebral es la tercera causa de muerte y la primera de discapacidad permanente en el mundo. La atorvastatina es un fárm...