Effect of high calcium and simvastatin on metabolism of lipid and calcium in artery and bone of SD rats

AIM To explore whether high intake of calcium will aggravate atherosclerosis and artery calcification and whether Simvastatin will ameliorate artery calcification and calcium in bone aggradation. METHODS Forty-four male SD white rats, with body weight of 150~200g, were divided into five groups at random:①baseline group (n=8);②VitD_3 group (n=9); ③high-cholesterol diet group(n=9); ④high-cholesterol-calcium diet group(n=9); ⑤Simvastatin group(n=9). The measurement of plasma levels of cholesterol, triglyceride and calcium, calcium content in artery and bone, and pathologic observations of arteries were made. RESULTS Compared with high-cholesterol diet group,the high-cholesterol-calcium diet group, evidently had higher calcium content in both artery and bone (P 0.05).Compared with high-cholesterol-calcium diet group, the Simvastatin group, evidently had lower content of artery calcium, and higher content of bone calcium instead (P0.01), which was also confirmed by observed pathologic changes of arteries using Von Kossa method. CONCLUSION High-calcium intake aggravates atherosclerosis and artery calcification and simvastatin ameliorates arterial calcification and calcium in bone aggradation.