Recent research suggests that some patients are experiencing anxiety and depression after taking statin drugs, or following low-cholesterol diets. Low cholesterol levels could be the culprit for these adverse reactions.
Amitabha Chattopadhyay and his fellow researchers reported that statins drugs will block a key enzyme that the body normally uses to produce cholesterol. Their study appears in the American Chemical Society's journal "Biochemistry".
"The scientists previously showed that maintaining normal cholesterol levels is important for the function of cell receptors for serotonin, a brain hormone that influences mood and behavior." It's not yet known what this cholesterol depletion may do to these receptors in the long term.
The scientists performed some more lab tests. Results of these tests seemed to indicate that long-term use of the statin drug mevastatin affected the function and structure of serotonin cell receptors to a significant extent. These receptors returned to normalcy after cholesterol was added to the cells.
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