Evidence mapPaperPMID 33808194Full record

ReviewInternational journal of molecular sciences2021

The Relationship between the Gut Microbiome and Metformin as a Key for Treating Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

Chae Bin Lee, Soon Uk Chae, Seong Jun Jo, Ui Min Jerng, Soo Kyung Bae

Open access · goldFull text readReview
In one paragraph

Review in International journal of molecular sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
78citing papers in PubMed, 6 pooled it
8.8field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

78 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 143 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Pooled it
  7. Trial
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. A Combined Probiotic-International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
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  13. Review
  14. Review
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  20. N-Lactoyl Amino Acids: Emerging Biomarkers in Metabolism and Disease.Diabetes/metabolism research and reviews · 2025
    Review

18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Chae Bin LeeCollege of Pharmacy and Integrated Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Korea.
Soon Uk ChaeCollege of Pharmacy and Integrated Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Korea.
Seong Jun JoCollege of Pharmacy and Integrated Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Korea.
Ui Min JerngDepartment of Internal Medicine, College of Korean Medicine, Sangji University, Wonju 26339, Korea.ORCID 0000-0002-1996-3793
Soo Kyung BaeCollege of Pharmacy and Integrated Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The Catholic University of Korea, Bucheon 14662, Korea.
Catholic University of Korea · KRSangji University · KR

Funding

Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation 2018R1A6A1A03025108Korea Health Technology R&D Project HF20C0002Research Fund of The Catholic University of Korea 2020
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Metformin is the first-line pharmacotherapy for treating type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); however, its mechanism of modulating glucose metabolism is elusive. Recent advances have identified the gut as a potential target of metformin. As patients with metabolic disorders exhibit dysbiosis, the gut microbiome has garnered interest as a potential target for metabolic disease. Henceforth, studies have focused on unraveling the relationship of metabolic disorders with the human gut microbiome. According to various metagenome studies, gut dysbiosis is evident in T2DM patients. Besides this, alterations in the gut microbiome were also observed in the metformin-treated T2DM patients compared to the non-treated T2DM patients. Thus, several studies on rodents have suggested potential mechanisms interacting with the gut microbiome, including regulation of glucose metabolism, an increase in short-chain fatty acids, strengthening intestinal permeability against lipopolysaccharides, modulating the immune response, and interaction with bile acids. Furthermore, human studies have demonstrated evidence substantiating the hypotheses based on rodent studies. This review discusses the current knowledge of how metformin modulates T2DM with respect to the gut microbiome and discusses the prospect of harnessing this mechanism in treating T2DM.

Indexed as

Bile Acids and SaltsBlood GlucoseDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Fatty Acids, VolatileGastrointestinal MicrobiomeHumansHypoglycemic AgentsMetforminBile Acids and SaltsBlood GlucoseFatty Acids, VolatileHypoglycemic AgentsMetformindysbiosisgut microbiomemetformintype 2 diabetes mellitus

Identifiers

PMID33808194
PMCPMC8037857
OpenAlexW3143824392

What Socratic holds

Textfull text, public
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.