The effect of simvastatin on serum concentration of interleukin-18 in patients with acute cerebral infarction

【Objective】To observe the effect of simvastatin on serum concentration of interleukin-18(IL-18) in patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI).【Methods】52 patients with ACI were divided into ACI control group(n =25) and ACI treatment group(n =227).Patients in the both groups were given conventional medicine treatment for 2 weeks,and patients in the ACI treatment group were given oral simvastatin(20 mg/d) for 2 weeks.The level of triglycerides(TG),total cholesterol(TC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),high sensitivity C-reactive protein(HS-CRP) and IL-18 were measured,and the scores of neurological deficit(NDS) were evaluated before and after treatment in all patients.【Results】① Compared to those before treatment,all of TG,TC and LDL-C were no apparently different in both ACI control group and ACI treatment group.② The concentrations of HS-CRP and IL-18 obviously decreased after treatment in the ACI control group and the ACI treatment group compared to those before treatment.However,change of HS-CRP and IL-18 after treatment in the ACI treatment group were more apparent compared to those in the control group(P 0.05).③ NDS after treatment were obviously lower than those before treatment in both ACI control group and ACI treatment group.Moreover,decrease of NDS after treatment in the ACI treatment group was significant compared to that in the ACI control group(P 0.05).④ The NDS before treatment in both group were positively correlated with the concentration of IL-18(r =0.36,P 0.05).【Conclusion】Simvastatin can improve the neurological function by decreasing serum concentrations of IL-18 and alleviating inflammation in the patients with ACI.