ArticlePloS one2017
Beneficial effects of metformin on energy metabolism and visceral fat volume through a possible mechanism of fatty acid oxidation in human subjects and rats.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metformin for the prevention of diabetes among people with HIV and either impaired fasting glucose or impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes) in Tanzania: a Phase II randomised placebo-controlled trial.Diabetologia · 2023 · on this mapTrial
- Significantly altered peripheral blood cell DNA methylation profile as a result of immediate effect of metformin use in healthy individuals.Clinical epigenetics · 2018Trial
- Review
- Adipose tissue ageing: implications for metabolic health and lifespan.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Metformin effects on respiratory and metabolic outcomes in asthma and metabolic syndrome: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the toxicity potential of exercise and atorvastatin/metformin combination therapy on STZ-diabetic rats.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Article
- New Perspectives on the Molecular Action of Metformin in the Context of Cellular Transduction and Adipogenesis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Effect of in utero metformin exposure in gestational diabetes mellitus on infant mesenchymal stem cell metabolism.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- A New Strategy for Obesity Treatment: Revealing the Frontiers of Anti-obesity Medications.Current molecular medicine · 2025Review
- Molecular Pathways in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy and the Role of Anti-hyperglycemic Drugs Beyond Their Glucose Lowering Effect.Journal of lipid and atherosclerosis · 2025Review
- Article
- Mitochondrial complex I inhibition triggers NADGeroScience · 2024Article
- Metformin: A Dual-Role Player in Cancer Treatment and Prevention.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Review
- Diet-inducing hypercholesterolemia show decreased O-GlcNAcylation of liver proteins through modulation of AMPK.Journal of physiology and biochemistry · 2024Article
- Biguanides and glucagon like peptide 1 receptor agonists in the amelioration of post liver transplant weight gain; a scoping review of the mechanism of action, safety and efficacy.Gastroenterology and hepatology from bed to bench · 2024Article
- Metformin increases 3-hydroxy medium chain fatty acids in patients with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional pharmacometabolomic study.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Metformin Inefficiency to Lower Lipids in Vitamin B12 Deficient HepG2 Cells Is Alleviated via Adiponectin-AMPK Axis.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Ketone Bodies in Diabetes Mellitus: Friend or Foe?Nutrients · 2023Review
- Metformin: update on mechanisms of action and repurposing potential.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2023Review
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveMetformin is known to have a beneficial effect on body weight and body composition, although the precise mechanism has not been elucidated yet. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of metformin on energy metabolism and anthropometric factors in both human subjects and rats.
methodsIn human studies, metformin (1500mg/day) was administered to 23 healthy subjects and 18 patients with type 2 diabetes for 2 weeks. Metabolic parameters and energy metabolism were measured during a meal tolerance test in the morning before and after the treatment of metformin. In animal studies, 13 weeks old SD rats were fed 25-26 g of standard chow only during 12-hours dark phase with either treated by metformin (2.5mg/ml in drinking water) or not for 2 weeks, and metabolic parameters, anthropometric factors and energy metabolism together with expressions related to fat oxidation and adaptive thermogenesis were measured either in fasting or post-prandial state at 15 weeks old.
resultsPost-prandial plasma lactate concentration was significantly increased after the metformin treatment in both healthy subjects and diabetic patients. Although energy expenditure (EE) did not change, baseline respiratory quotient (RQ) was significantly decreased and post-prandial RQ was significantly increased vice versa following the metformin treatment in both groups. By the administration of metformin to SD rats for 2 weeks, plasma levels of lactate and pyruvate were significantly increased in both fasting and post-prandial states. RQ during a fasting state was significantly decreased in metformin-treated rats compared to controls with no effect on EE. Metformin treatment brought about a significant reduction of visceral fat mass compared to controls accompanied by an up-regulation of fat oxidation-related enzyme in the liver, UCP-1 in the brown adipose tissue and UCP-3 in the skeletal muscle.
conclusionFrom the results obtained, beneficial effects of metformin on visceral fat reduction has been demonstrated probably through a mechanism for a potential shift of fuel resource into fat oxidation and an upregulation of adaptive thermogenesis independent of an anorexigenic effect of this drug.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.