Naringin, an agent for statin-associated diabetes: A preliminary study

Statins have long been used to treat hypercholesterolemia and are the highest prescribed class of drugs for this condition. Though generally considered safe, new pieces of evidence has increasingly linked them with the development of diabetes amongst users. The risk of development of diabetes is both drug and patient dependent. Amongst the numerous hypotheses proposed to explain this, one suggests that the development of diabetes on prolonged usage of statin in high doses may be linked to beta-cell death or dysfunction. To that end, in this study, we explore the potential of naringin in ameliorating the detrimental effects of stain associated pancreatic beta-cell death. Our findings go on to show that naringin can prevent the loss of live cells to atorvastatin induced beta-cell death.