Evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on biopterin levels and the BH4/BH2 ratio in hypertensive type-2 diabetic patients

Objective: To evaluate the effect of atorvastatin on biopterin levels and the BH4/BH2 ratio in hypertensive type-2 diabetic patients. Material and Methods: 20 type-2 diabetic patients' naives to statins and inhibitors of the renin angiotensin systems received atorvastatin 10 mg once a day during 3 months. BH4 and BH2 were measured by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection at the beginning and end of the study. Patients were evaluated monthly for blood pressure, fasting serum glucose, lipid profile and adverse events. Statistical analysis was performed with the Shapiro-Wilk and Wilcoxon test. Results: All patients experienced a significant reduction of lipid values. Atorvastatin increased the levels of BH4 (5.4 to 9.1, p= 0.047), decreased the levels of BH2 (7.4 to 6.99, p= 0.60), and improved the BH4/BH2 ratio (0.83 to 1.85 p= 0.016) No patient suffered adverse events. Conclusion: Our results shown that atorvastatin has beneficial effects on biopterin parameters. This may explain, at least in part, the cardiovascular effects seen with statins in diabetic patients.