Human study · Supplements / medicine · 22 Oct 2026
In a cryo-electron map, three atorvastatin molecules held a muscle calcium channel open
Source: Nature Communications
What the research found
Study (structural biology, not a patient trial). Steven Molinarolo, Filip Van Petegem, and colleagues, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, report in Nature Communications (2025; DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-66522-0). ScienceDaily carried the finding again on 20 Oct 2026. Cryo-electron microscopy mapped how the cholesterol drug atorvastatin binds the skeletal-muscle ryanodine receptor RyR1, the channel that releases calcium for contraction. Three drug molecules sat in one pocket. The first bound while the channel was closed and made opening more likely. Two more held it open, which would let calcium leak. The map does not measure how often people get muscle pain. It is not a reason to stop a prescribed statin. Any change to a prescribed medicine is clinician-only. Not medical advice. Not a substitute for a prescribed medicine.
Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.
More supplements / medicine news
- In mice, the experimental drug KCL-286 reduced DNA breaks and brain inflammation in an Alzheimer's model
- In aged rats, two weeks of the experimental drug cinaciguat cut circulating amyloid-beta about in half and brought LDL down to youthful levels
- In 104 people with a sudden retinal-artery blockage, papaverine use lined up with better functional vision in a retrospective comparison
- A Cell Metabolism letter questions whether a fasting GLP-1 level shows how many gut L-cells a person has
- In FDA reports, caffeine and stimulant supplement use was tied to cardiac arrest about 11 times more often, and 45 percent of those cardiovascular reports were ages 18 to 34