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Millions of people around the world take statin medicines. Doctors prescribe these drugs to lower high cholesterol levels in the blood. This simple action helps stop heart attacks and strokes before they occur. Even though these drugs are very helpful, many patients stop taking them. The main reason is a painful side effect. Many people feel muscle pain, aches, or weakness after taking statins. For a very long time, scientists did not know why this happened. Because they lacked this knowledge, it was hard to make safer versions of the drug. Now, a new study has finally found the answer.
An international team of researchers has discovered how statins cause muscle pain. Their findings were recently published in a top scientific journal called Nature Communications. This work gives a clear plan for making new drugs. These new medicines will lower cholesterol like current ones but will not cause muscle pain. This breakthrough could help millions of people stay on their medication and live healthier lives. To solve this mystery, scientists from the University of British Columbia worked with experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They used a special tool called cryo-electron microscopy. This technology is often called cryo-EM. It allows scientists to see the tiny three-dimensional shapes of proteins.
They can see these shapes with amazing detail, almost like looking at individual atoms. This tool helped them watch how statin molecules connect to a specific protein inside muscle cells. The protein involved is called the ryanodine receptor, or RyR1. It acts like a gate for calcium in muscle cells. Calcium is a chemical signal that tells muscles to move. Usually, this gate opens only when a muscle needs to work and closes quickly afterward.
The research showed that some statins stick directly to this gate. When they stick, they force the gate to stay open. It cannot close normally. This leads to a continuous flow of calcium leaking out of storage spots and into the muscle cell.
This leak of calcium is the cause of the pain. Dr. Steven Molinarolo is the lead author of the study. He is a researcher at the University of British Columbia. He explained, "We were able to see, almost atom by atom, how statins latch onto this channel." He noted that this constant leak explains the muscle pain. In severe cases, it can lead to dangerous health problems. Having too much calcium inside a muscle cell is toxic. This toxicity damages the cell, causes inflammation, and creates the pain and weakness patients feel.