The effects of chromium picolinate and simvastatin on pig serum cholesterol contents in swine muscular and adipose tissues

• Cr-picolinate and simvastatin have minimal effects on cholesterol serum levels.
• Simvastatin reduces cholesterol levels in adipose and muscular tissues.
• Cr-picolinate reduces cholesterol levels in adipose tissue.
• Cr-picolinate reduces cholesterol in L. thoracis but not in Ps. major.
• Cr-picolinate enhances PUFA ω6 content in backfat.

In this study, the effects of two hypocholesterolemic drugs, simvastatin (a statin) and chromium dipicolinate, on serum cholesterol levels, and cholesterol contents in muscular and adipose tissues were tested. Although we find no significant effects of both drugs on cholesterol serum levels, we found a 25.5% and 18.9% reduction of cholesterol content in adipose tissue in statin and chromium dipicolinate-treated pigs, respectively, compared to controls. We also found a significant reduction in cholesterol content in Longissimus thoracis (9.6% reduction) and Psoas major (13.0% reduction) after statin administration. On the other side, chromium dipicolinate significantly reduced the cholesterol content only in Longissimus thoracis (10.0% reduction) but not in Psoas major. As a drawback, we have found that chromium dipicolinate significantly enhanced the ω6 fatty acid content in adipose tissue; simvastatin also enhanced PUFA ω6 fatty acid content to nearly significant levels.