Hello everyone,
I only ask for help on ResearchGate when I can't find a proper answer out there. I want to start experimenting with statins in PBMC cultures and I've been looking for a straightforward answer to this question: what is the best statin for in vitro cell cultures?
There are many published studies that used statins in cell cultures, but so far I was not able to find one that comprehensively describes the procedure in detail. Also, when looking for the products, the producers never mention explicitly that their statins can be used for cell cultures. Moreover, from what I understand, some statins are prodrugs that are normally activated during the hepatic passage when taken orally by the patients. For instance, simvastatin has to be activated by alkaline hydrolysis. I have found a protocol for that, but I would rather not go through it and it's bugging me that so many articles just say they transfer simvastatin in the cell medium and that's it, just like magic, it is supposed to work?
Could someone with experience recommed me a statin that can be used directly in cultures without preactivation? Also, if you happen to have a protocol with exact steps for that, it would be great!
Thank you in advance!
I think the activation is happening "automatically". At least lovastatin worked in my experience with fibroblasts to inhibit the farnesylation of small G-Proteins.
In my experiences with PC 12 cells I obtained good results (arrest of cell cycle, differentiation of dendrites followed by cell death) using 30 µM mevastatin, but I did not compare with other statins
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