| First Author | Muscas M | Year | 2019 |
| Journal | eNeuro | Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 3 | PubMed ID | 31147392 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:279533 | Mgi Id | MGI:6358938 |
| Doi | 10.1523/ENEURO.0097-19.2019 | Citation | Muscas M, et al. (2019) Lovastatin, not Simvastatin, Corrects Core Phenotypes in the Fragile X Mouse Model. eNeuro 6(3):ENEURO.0097-19.2019 |
| abstractText | The cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin corrects neurological phenotypes in animal models of fragile X syndrome (FX), a commonly identified genetic cause of autism and intellectual disability (ID). The therapeutic efficacy of lovastatin is being tested in clinical trials for FX; however, the structurally similar drug simvastatin has been proposed as an alternative due to an increased potency and brain penetrance. Here, we perform a side-by-side comparison of the effects of lovastatin and simvastatin treatment on two core phenotypes in Fmr1(-/y) mice versus WT littermates: excessive hippocampal protein synthesis and susceptibility to audiogenic seizures (AGSs). We find that simvastatin does not correct excessive hippocampal protein synthesis in the Fmr1(-/y) hippocampus at any dose tested. In fact, simvastatin significantly increases protein synthesis in both Fmr1(-/y) and WT. Moreover, injection of simvastatin does not reduce AGS in the Fmr1(-/y) mouse, while lovastatin significantly reduces AGS incidence and severity versus vehicle-treated animals. These results show that unlike lovastatin, simvastatin does not correct core phenotypes in the Fmr1(-/y) mouse model. |
