Antiarrhythmic effect of atorvastatin on autoimmune myocarditis is mediated by improving myocardial repolarization

Statins as a New Therapeutic Perspective in Myocarditis and Postmyocarditis Dilated Cardiomyopathy

“…On the basis of the above data and in consideration of the key role played by T helper cells in the pathogenesis of myocarditis, in the last years several authors [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] investigated the therapeutic potential as well as the putative underlying mechanisms of statin administration in animal models of the disease ( Table 1). The results of these studies, in which different molecules were used (mainly atorvastatin, but also fluvastatin, simvastatin, rosuvastatin and pitavastatin), clearly and consistently demonstrated the ability of this class of drugs to significantly improve both cardiac function, as assessed by echocardiography, and the histopathological severity of the disease, with respect to untreated animals.…”

“…In turn, these effects finally result in a marked reduction of the amount of cardiac Th1-type and proinflammatory cytokines, thus attenuating their harmful consequences on the myocardium, i.e. cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and structural and electrophysiological remodelling, which are chiefly involved in the severe depression of cardiac function, and the high arrhythmic risk characterizing myocarditis and inflammatory DCM [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

The effect of acute simvastatin administration on the severity of arrhythmias resulting from ischaemia and reperfusion in the canine: Is there a role for nitric oxide?

“…These show that simvastatin almost completely inhibited the ischaemia-induced prolongation of the QTc interval, and this effect was not abolished by the administration of L-NAME. Although we cannot ascertain the precise mechanism of this phenomenon only from the measurement of QTc intervals, recent electrophysiological studies, however, suggest that statins influence impulse conduction, improve cardiac repolarization (Tang et al, 2007;Tekin et al, 2008), suppress cardiac excitability (Sicouri et al, 2011) perhaps by directly and selectively affecting ion channels in cardiomyocytes (e.g. Kv4.3; Su et al, 2012).…”

Effect of atorvastatin on dynamic parameters of myocardial repolarization in healthy subjects

“…Among others, beneficial effects of statins on myocardial repolarization have been reported. 6 Having this possibility in mind, we report a study designed to evaluate possible influence of atorvastatin on myocardial repolarization in healthy subjects. We prospectively hypothesized that in comparison with placebo, the impact of single doses of atorvastatin will be detected using previously published electrocardiogram (ECG) repolarization descriptors.…”