Heart and systemic effects of statin pretreatment in a rat model of abdominal sepsis. Assessment by Tc99m-sestamibi biodistribition.

PURPOSE To evaluate the heart and the Tc-99m-sestamibi biodistribution after statin pretreatment in a rat model of abdominal sepsis. METHODS Twenty-four Wistar rats were randomly distributed into four groups (n=6 per group): 1) sepsis with simvastatin treatment, 2) sepsis with vehicle, 3) sham control with simvastatin and 4) sham control with vehicle. 24 hours after cecal ligation and puncture rats received 1.0MBq of Tc-99m-sestamibi i.v. 30min after, animals were euthanized for ex-vivo tissue counting and myocardium histological analysis. RESULTS Myocardial histologic alterations were not detected 24 hours post-sepsis. There was significantly increased cardiac Tc-99m-sestamibi activity in the sepsis group with simvastatin treatment (1.9±0.3%ID/g, p<0.001) in comparison to the sepsis group+vehicle (1.0±0.2%ID/g), control sham group+ simvastatin (1.2±0.3%ID/g) and control sham group (1.3±0.2%ID/g). Significant Tc-99m-sestamibi activity in liver, kidney and lungs was also detected in the sepsis group treated with simvastatinin comparison to the other groups. CONCLUSIONS Statin treatment altered the biodistribution of Tc-99m-sestamibi with increased cardiac and solid organ activity in rats with abdominal sepsis, while no impact on controls. Increased myocardial tracer activity may be a result of a possible protection effect due to increased tissue perfusion mediated by statins.