Simvastatin maintains steady patterns of GFR and improves AER and expression of slit diaphragm proteins in type II diabetes

The factors determining the course of glomerular fitration rate (GFR) and albumin excretion rate (AER) and the expression of mRNA of slit diaphragm (SD) and podocyte proteins in microalbuminuric, hypertensive type II diabetic patients are not fully understood. GFR, AER, and SD protein mRNA were studied in 86 microalbuminuric, hypertensive, type II diabetics at baseline and after 4-year random double-blind treatment either with 40 mg simvastatin (Group 1) or with 30 g cholestyramine (Group 2) per day. Both groups had at baseline a GFR decay per year in the previous 2–4 years of 3 ml/min/1.73 m 2 . Both Groups 1 and 2 showed a significant decrease of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels after simvastatin and cholestyramine treatment ( P 2 , P P