Simvastatin does not affect neutrophil antimicrobial activity in vitro (A + B) and in vivo (C). A:

Bacterial uptake of fluorescent IgG- or complement-opsonized E. coli by activated or resting neutrophils as assessed by flow cytometry. Neutrophils were activated with fMLP and pretreated with simvastatin as indicated n = 4; repetition = 4. Statistical significance was tested using two way ANOVA with with Bonferroni posttest. * indicates significant difference to the control group without fMLP. B: Formation of colony forming units (CFU) after hypotonic lysis of neutrophils that had phagocytozed E. coli (BL21) for 20 min. (n = 4). C No negative effect on neutrophil bacterial clearance in acute lung injury. 24 h after cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), the supernatant of the harvested lungs was spread out on Luria Bertani agar over night and the colony forming units (CFU) were enumerated. The CFU did not increase after simvastatin treatment in comparison to the CLP group indicating no negative effect on the bacterial clearance (n = 5). Statistical significance was tested using one way ANOVA with Newman-Keuls Multiple Comparison test. * indicates significant difference to the control group without neutrophils.