Pravastatin Improves Function in Hibernating Myocardium by Mobilizing CD133+ and cKit+ Bone Marrow Progenitor Cells and Promoting Myocytes to Reenter the Growth Phase of the Cardiac Cell Cycle

3-Hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors have been reported to increase circulating bone marrow progenitor cells and variably improve global function in heart failure. The potential role of improved perfusion versus direct effects of statins on cardiac myocytes has not been established. We chronically instrumented swine with a left anterior descending artery (LAD) stenosis to produce chronic hibernating myocardium with regional contractile dysfunction in the absence of heart failure. Hemodynamics, function, perfusion, and histopathology were assessed in pigs treated for 5 weeks with pravastatin (n=12) versus untreated controls (n=10). Regional LAD wall thickening was depressed under baseline conditions (LAD 3.7±0.3 versus 6.6±0.3 in remote regions, P