00:00More than 200 million people worldwide take statins to lower cholesterol.
00:04For some of them, the pills come with muscle soreness, weakness, or fatigue.
00:09Scientists at the University of British Columbia have now shown how that may happen.
00:13The team used electron microscopes to see a key muscle protein in fine detail.
00:18That protein, called Rye-R1, controls how calcium moves inside muscle cells.
00:23Three molecules of the statin, adervistatin, lock into a pocket on the protein.
00:28The first makes the channel easier to open, and the next two hold it open.
00:33Calcium then leaks into parts of the cell where it should be tightly controlled.
00:37The study in Nature Communications links that leak to muscle injury.
00:41Only one statin was tested, and the work was done on proteins, not patients.
00:46Severe muscle injury affects only a small share of statin users.
00:50The finding could guide future statins that ease cholesterol with less muscle pain.
00:54Disclosure.
00:55This video contains stock footage and content created or enhanced using AI-assisted tools.
