Effect of Cerivastatin on Permeability of Lipid-raft-mimetic Membranes

The effect of cerivastatin (CER) on the permeability of lipid-raft-mimetic membrane was investigated. CER is a drug candidate to treat dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases. Sphingomyelin (SM) was used to form the outer layer of liposomes of which inner layer was prepared with dioleoylphosphatidic-acid. The permeability of the SM layer was estimated by measuring the release of the pyranine encapsulated in the liposome. The change of the permeability was analyzed with the presence of CER dispersion in PBS buffer, especially its hydrophobic group. The results of this study seem to be useful in deriving the drug candidate for cardiovascular disease.