Effect of atorvastatin in mice infected with <i>T. gondii.</i>

<p><b><i>A</i></b><b>,</b> Atorvastatin treatment of mice infected with the RH strain. 20 RH tachyzoites were injected i.p. into Swiss Webster mice. Atorvastatin was given i.p. daily starting 6 hours after infection for 15 days. Results are the summary of 4 independent experiments. <b><i>B</i></b><b>,</b> Atorvastatin can cure mice infected with a lethal dose of <i>Δfpps</i> parasites. 10 <i>Δku80</i> or <i>Δfpps</i> tachyzoites were inoculated (i.p.) into Swiss Webster mouse. Atorvastatin (20 mg/kg/day) started 6 hours after infection for 10 days. Results are from 3 independent experiments using 10 mice for each group. <b><i>C</i></b><b>,</b> Atorvastatin cures a lethal infection with ΔFPPS/FPPSi parasites. Balb/c mice were infected with 100,000 fresh tachyzoites (i.p.) of FPPS/FPPSi (<i>black lines</i>) or ΔFPPS/FPPSi (<i>red lines</i>). Atorvastatin protect mice against death if the infection with ΔFPPS/FPPSi is followed by the administration of 0.2 µg/ml anhydrotetracyclin ATc to suppress the expression of the extra copy of TgFPPS (<i>red dashed line</i>) (80% mice survive). Only 20% of mice infected with FPPS/FPPSi parasites survive if treated with atorvastatin (<i>black dotted line</i>). The results shown are from 2 independent experiments (10 mice each group). Treatment with atorvastatin (20 mg/kg×day, i.p.) was started 6 hours after infection for 10 days for the groups indicated. Note that graphs start at day 1 but infection is done on day 0.