Table 1.

Summary of studies highlighting the effects of statins on microglia.

Study	Study Type	Model	Statin (Dose)	Outcome Measure	Results
Wang, 2018 [120]	In vivo	Sprague Dawley male rats (age 7 to 8 weeks), 250–300 g	Atorvastatin 5- and 10-mg/kg (chronic)	Number of Iba-1-positive microglia	Reduced number of Iba-1 positive microglia.
Ewen, 2013 [122]	In vivo	Sprague–Dawley male rats (12 week of age)	Atorvastatin 2, 5, and 10 mg/kg	TNF-α and IL-10 levels, and infiltration at site of injury	Atorvastatin decreased TNF-α and increased in IL-10 levels, and number of activated microglia.
Lindberg, 2005 [125]	In vitro and in vivo	CHME-3 human cell line; primary rat microglia	Atorvastatin 0.1, 1, 5, and 20 mM or Simvastatin 0.1, 1, 5, and 10 mM; Atorvastatin 1, 5, and 20 μM	Microglial Secretion of IL-6	Atorvastatin reduce IL-6 secretion of stimulated human and rat microglia.
Townsend, 2004 [127]	In vitro and in vivo	BALB/c mice microglia	Lovastatin 10 µM	IL-6, TNF-α and IL-β1 concentrations and phagocytosis activity	Lovastatin reduced IL-6, TNF-α and IL-β1 concentrations and attenuated impaired phagocytosis in primary mouse microglia.
Pahan, 1997 [128]	In vitro	Isolated primary rat microglia from mixed cultures	Lovastatin 10 µM	Nitiric Oxide, TNF-a, IL-1b, and IL-6 concentrations	In LPS stimulated primary rat microglia, lovastatin reduced nitric oxide, TNF- α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in supernatant.
Yongjun, 2013 [130]	In vitro	Primary human microglia	Atorvastatin 0.1 mM	MT1-MMP expression	Reduced microglia expression of MT1-MMP.
Kata, 2016 [131]	In vitro	Primary rat microglia	Rosuvastatin 1 µM	Iba-1 immunoreactivity; phagocytosis activity; IL-10, IL-1b and TNF-α production.	In microglia challenged with LPS, rosuvastatin reduced IL-1 β, TNF-α production and phagocytosis, IL-10 and Iba1 immunoreactivity was increased.
Chu, 2015 [135]	In vivo	Sprague–Dawley male rats	Atorvastatin 10 mg/kg/day	pNFκB immunostaining	Proinflammatory pNFκB proteins were decreased by atorvastatin in microglia, following surgery.
Tamboli, 2010 [136]	In vivo	BV-2 mouse microglia	Lovastatin 5 µM	Aβ degration, Westen blot	Lovastatin enhanced the degradation of extracellular Aβ by microglial cells.
Petanceska, 2003 [140]	In vivo	C57/BL6 mice and BV-2 cell line	Lovastatin 5 µM and atorvastatin 5 µM	ApoE Western blot	In mice, lovastatin reduced ApoE secretion. Atorvastatin reduced the levels of both cellular and secreted ApoE.