Survival at 72 hours (Figure 1) was 43.7%, 25% and 12.5% for pre-treatment, vehicle, and post-treatment groups, respectively (P < 0.05). At 24 hours post sepsis, ubiquinone was significantly decreased only in hearts taken from statin pre-treated animals (706 ± 222 vs. 1,217 ± 269 pmol/mg protein for vehicle hearts). Plasma simvastatin acid levels were significantly increased in statin pre-treated animals (41 ± 3 ng/ml) compared with naïve animals receiving the same dose (1 ± 0.4 ng/ml). Compared with vehicle-treated animals, statin pre-treatment resulted in significant decreases in urea and creatinine, and a trend towards improvement for liver enzymes and creatine kinase. Plasma lipid levels were not significantly affected by statins given either before or after the onset of sepsis. Mean values of muscle oxygen consumption were 11.9 ± 5.3, 14.4 ± 2.9, 12.1 ± 1.5 and 5.9 ± 2.4 pmol/ml/second/mg for naïve, sepsis + post-treatment, sepsis + pre-treatment and sepsis + vehicle groups, respectively. The significant reduction in muscle oxygen consumption seen in the sepsis + vehicle group was prevented in both groups receiving simvastatin.