Overview of study. (a) The nephrectomy procedure is shown, and (b) the placement of the arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is demonstrated. (c) The study schema. (d) Average serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels after nephrectomy. SV is the simvastatin group and C is the control group. There was a significant increase in the average BUN values after nephrectomy for the C and SV groups (P<0.001). For the SV group, when compared with Cs, at 8 weeks, there was a significant decrease in the mean BUN (P<0.01). (e) Average serum creatinine levels after nephrectomy. There was a significant decrease in the average creatinine values after nephrectomy for the C and SV groups at 8 weeks (P<0.01). For the SV group, when compared with Cs, at 8 weeks, there was a significant decrease in the mean creatinine values (P<0.001). Each bar represents mean±s.e.m. of 4–6 animals. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Student's t-test with post hoc Bonferroni's correction was performed. Significant differences between the SV-treated group and Cs are indicated by *P<0.01 or **P<0.001. IHC, immunohistochemistry; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; S/P, status post. #P<0.0001.