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المستخلص
Hypercholesterolemia is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is typically due to a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Environmental factors include obesity, alcohol and diabetes mellitus. Genetic factors include mutations in specific genes; the most common is the LDL - R gene that encodes the LDL receptor protein; which normally removes LDL from the circulation. Longstanding elevation of serum cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis. Pravastatin sodium (PVS) belongs to the statins class. PVS is a lipoprotein-lowering drug that inhibits HMG - CoA reductase; the rate - limiting step in the biosynthesis of cholesterol. PVS suffers from some limitations; including, (i) The short elimination half-life ranging from 1 - 3 h, (ii) The instability under the gastric acidity through conversion to isomers with markedly lower activities, (iii) The low permeability through the intestinal membrane due to its hydrophilic properties and (iv) The extensive hepatic first pass metabolism resulting in low oral bioavailability 18%