Metformin, A Biological and Synthetic Overview
Abstract
Metformin is the most widely known anti-hyperglycemic, officially acquired by the USA government in 1995 and in 2001 it became the most prescribed treatment for type II diabetes. But how did it become the must-use drug for this disease in such a short period of time? it all started with traditional medicine, by using a plant known as "goat's rue" for the reduction of blood glucose levels. Its use arose in 1918 and evolved to the metformin synthesis in laboratories a couple of years later, using very rudimentary methods which involved melting and strong heating. Thus, a first synthetic route that allowed the preparation of the initial metformin derivates was established. Some of these resulted toxics, and others outperformed the metformin, reducing the blood glucose levels in such efficient way. Nevertheless, the risk and documented cases of lactic acidosis increased with metformin derivatives like buformin and phenformin. Recently, metformin has been widely studied, and it has been associated and tested in the treatment of type II diabetes, cancer, polycystic ovarian syndrome, cell differentiation to oligodendrocytes, reduction of oxidative stress in cells, weight reduction, as anti-inflammatory and even in the recent COVID-19 disease. Herein we briefly review and analyze the history, synthesis, and biological applications of metformin and its derivates.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.