Atorvastatin prevents type 2 diabetes mellitus--an experimental study

Recent reports of increased diabetes risk have raised concerns regarding the use of statins. The present study was therefore planned to clarify whether atorvastatin can prevent diabetes development in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Eight week old male Wistar rats were randomized into three groups (n = 12 each group). Group A was given standard chow diet, while group B and group C were offered high sucrose diet. In addition to high sucrose diet, group C was given atorvastatin (20mg/kg/day) from beginning of study till 26th week. After 26 weeks, a low dose of streptozotocin (15 mg/kg, i.p.) was given to all 3 groups and further followed for 4 weeks. Oral glucose tolerance tests were done at week 4, 26 and week 30. Development of impaired glucose tolerance at week 26 (16.66% vs 100%, P = <0.001) and diabetes at week 30 (16.66% vs 81.81%, P = 0.002) was significantly lower in rats pretreated with atorvastatin along with high sucrose diet viz group C compared to group B rats who received high sucrose diet only respectively. Also, metabolic indices like body weight, hypertriglyceridemia, glucose area under the curve (Gl-AUC) were significantly lower in group C compared to group B (P = <0.05) while insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was also lower in group C (P = 0.05). This study clearly demonstrates for the first time in a rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus that atorvastatin prevents development of type 2 diabetes.