PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Masaya Fukuda
AU  - Taishi Nakamura
AU  - Keiichiro Kataoka
AU  - Hisato Nako
AU  - Yoshiko Tokutomi
AU  - Yi-Fei Dong
AU  - Osamu Yasuda
AU  - Hisao Ogawa
AU  - Shokei Kim-Mitsuyama
TI  - Ezetimibe ameliorates cardiovascular complications and hepatic steatosis in obese and type 2 diabetic db/db mice
AID  - 10.1124/jpet.110.170373
DP  - 2010 Jan 01
TA  - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
PG  - jpet.110.170373
4099  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2010/07/22/jpet.110.170373.short
4100  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/early/2010/07/22/jpet.110.170373.full
AB  - Type 2 diabetes plays a major role in the development of cardiovascular diseases. The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of ezetimibe, a potent cholesterol absorption inhibitor, on cardiovascular injury of obese and type 2 diabetic db/db mice. Diabetic db/db mice fed western diet were given ezetimibe for 9 weeks and the effects on cardiovascular injury and hepatic steatosis were examined. Ezetimibe treatment of db/db mice significantly improved vascular endothelial function, which was associated with the restoration of the decreased phospho-Akt and phospho-eNOS. Moreover, ezetimibe also reduced vascular superoxide levels in db/db mice, accompanied by the attenuation of NADPH oxidase subunit gp91phox and Nox4, and the prevention of downregulation of Cu/Zn-SOD and EC-SOD. Thus, the improvement of vascular endothelial function by ezetimibe in diabetic mice seems to be attributed to the improvement of eNOS function and the attenuation of oxidative stress. Ezetimibe treatment also significantly attenuated cardiac interstitial fibrosis and coronary arterial thickening of diabetic mice and ameliorated cardiac macrophage infiltration. This improvement of cardiac injury was also related to the attenuation of NADPH oxidase-mediated oxidative stress. Furthermore, ezetimibe significantly prevented hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress in diabetic mice. Our work provided the first evidence that ezetimibe prevented cardiovascular injury and hepatic steatosis in diabetic mice and these beneficial effects were attributed to the attenuation of oxidative stress and inflammation and the improvement of eNOS function. Therefore, we propose that ezetimibe may be a promising therapeutic drug for obese and type 2 diabetes.