Study of Possible Effect of Atorvastatin on Memory and Cognition in Normal and High Fat Diet Fed Adult Male Albino Rats

Background: Atorvastatin reduces blood cholesterol levels, although there is evidence linking statins in general to memory loss. Objective: To evaluation of atorvastatin effects against memory and cognition in normal and hyperlipidemic male albino rats.
Materials and methods: 24 male adult albino rats, have been used and in random way divided into four groups with six rats in each group as follows; 1) Control group: normal diet group, 2) HFD group: orally HFD-fed group in a dose of (15 gram/animal/day) for 28 days, 3) Atorvastatin/ordinary diet group: treated with atorvastatin orally (10 mg/kg/day) for 14 days; from 29th day to 42nd day of the study, 4) Atorvastatin/HFD group: treated with atorvastatin orally (10 mg/kg/day) for 14 days; from the 29^th day to the 42^nd day of the study. Assessment of working memory and spatial learning was performed after the 42^nd day of the experiment. Results: Treatments with atorvastatin were significantly ameliorated this lipid dysfunction as it significantly reduced cholesterol, LDL-C and VLDL levels, increased HDL-C levels but did not affect triglycerides. Atorvastatin exhibited beneficial effects against hyperlipidemia induced by HFD treatment. Administration of atorvastatin in atorvastatin/ordinary diet-fed group also induced a statistically significant increase in AchE level in comparison with control group, while administration of atorvastatin attenuated AchE in Atorvastatin/HFD group compared with non-treated HFD group.
Conclusion: Administration of atorvastatin in atorvastatin/ordinary diet-fed group also induced an oxidative status as indicated by disturbance of oxidative stress markers (GSH, and CAT), while administration of atorvastatin in Atorvastatin/HFD group improved both oxidative stress markers (GSH, and CAT) as well as inflammatory markers (TNF-α and IL-1β) compared with non-treated HFD group.