What triggered this investigation was the observation in 1995 that patients on statin therapy for high cholesterol had better survival outcomes after cardiac transplantation than those who had been on placebo. According to the authors, this effect was believed to have resulted from the cholesterol-lowering effect of statins. For the study, the effect of statins was studied on human endothelial cells and monocyte-macrophages. Studies are now underway in animals receiving transplants comparing the immunosuppressive effects of statins with those of other lipid-lowering drugs. According to the authors, there are clear beneficial effect of statins on the immune system that is not related to lipids.
Neurons are the brain cells that carry nerve impulses.
The authors suggested that converting bone marrow cells into brain neurons may be part of a previously unknown natural healing action the body uses to replace failed brain cells. The studies are the latest in a new field of research exploring the ability of adult stem cells to transform themselves into other types of cells and to fill new roles in the body. Bone marrow consists of at least two types of stem cells and earlier studies have shown these cells can convert themselves into muscle, bone and liver. There also have been studies showing that neural stem cells can convert into muscle or make a variety of brain cells. For one of the reported studies, bone marrow was obtained from a strain of mice that carry in each cell a protein that glows in the dark.