The Effect of Combined Ezetimibe/Atorvastatin Therapy vs. Atorvastatin Monotherapy on the Erythrocyte Membrane Structure in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: A Pilot Study

Background. Erythrocytes play an important role in atherogenesis. An excessive accumulation of cholesterol in erythrocyte membranes leads to disruption of the erythrocytes. Objectives. The aim of the study was to compare the effect of two different hypolipidemic therapies on the structure of erythrocyte membranes. Material and Methods. The study included 18 patients with angiographic confirmed coronary artery disease who, despite at least 6 months of hypolipidemic treatment, had not achieved LDL-C < 70 mg/dL and 18 healthy individuals as the control group. The following parameters were studied: total cholesterol level and erythrocyte membrane fluidity, lipid peroxidation, SH groups in membrane protein and plasma lipids. Results. We observed a decrease in TC (20%), LDL-C (35%), level of lipid peroxidation (25%) and total cholesterol in erythrocytes (23%), and an increase in HDL-C (8%) and erythrocyte membrane fluidity of subsurface layers (14%) after 6 months of 10 mg atorvastatin + 10 mg ezetimibe therapy, in comparison with healthy controls. In the group treated with 40 mg atorvastatin for 6 months, decreased LDL-C (23%), lipid peroxidation (37%) and membrane cholesterol concentration (18%) was noted, as well as an increase in erythrocyte membrane fluidity in the subsurface layers (12%). Conclusions. Both the combination therapy and the monotherapy lead to an improvement of erythrocyte membrane structure, whose parameters reached values close to those in the control healthy group.