NTU Undergraduates' research April 2014 - Biosciences | Page 111

The Effects of Simvastatin on Insulin Secretion from Pancreatic Beta Cells.
Ashley Seal (N0371035)
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes occurs when either a patients pancreatic beta cells do not produce enough insulin to
function properly or the body’s cells do not react to insulin. High levels of cholesterol are associated
with type 2 diabetes. Statins are widely used drugs that lower cholesterol by competitively
inhibiting the reduction of 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) to mevalonate resulting in a
decreased cholesterol production making statin the drugs of choice for patients at risk of type 2
diabetes. However inhibition of this biosynthesis pathway causes simvastatin to indirectly affect
other biological processes. This paper will look at briefly at the history of statins and consider the
other effects of statins before looking at simvastatins effect on insulin secretion in relation to the
development of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to observe the effects of simvastatin on
insulin secretion from INS-1 pancreatic beta cells. This will be achieved by applying treatment of
simvastatin (stimulated and non stimulated) and control (stimulated and non stimulated) to INS-1
cells. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed to quantify insulin secretion
and a bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA) assay performed to quantify protein content. The result of this
assay will be averaged and then used to calculate the insulin secretion per nanogram of protein. This
was repeated 3 times and the results compared in conjunction with existing work within the subject
of diabetes and statins. No conclusions as to simvastatins effect on insulin secretion were
definitively drawn from this study due to a lack of data.
Key words: Simvastatin; Cholesterol; HMG-CoA reductase; insulin secretion