ArticleMolecular neurobiology2025
Metformin Alleviates Cognitive Impairment in Chronic-Phase Epileptic Rats by Modulating the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB Pathway and Gut Flora Composition.
Article in Molecular neurobiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Polysaccharide-driven gut microbial metabolism in neurodegenerative brain diseases: from SCFAs and tryptophan catabolites to neuroinflammatory regulation.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Review
- Diet, gut microbiota, and the gut-brain axis: mechanistic interactions and therapeutic implications in neuropsychiatric disorders.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Epilepsy (EP) is characterized by recurring spontaneous seizures, often leading to long-standing cognitive impairment, significantly impacting the quality of life. Due to the unknown pathogenic pathways, developing effective treatments for epilepsy-associated cognitive impairment has been challenging. Metformin, a first-line oral antidiabetic drug, has proven effective in various EP models. Recent studies have shown that metformin can modulate gut microbiota composition and improve cognitive function. However, the protective effect of metformin on cognitive function in the chronic phase of epilepsy in rats is still unclear. Furthermore, whether its effect has to do with the gut microbiota remains to be determined. This study used the pilocarpine-induced chronic epilepsy model to mimic the pathological process of epilepsy-related cognitive impairment. Combined with 16 s rDNA sequencing and 4D-Label free proteomics analysis, multi-omics analysis was performed. We discovered that metformin treatment improved spatial learning and memory, reduced hippocampal neuronal damage, and enhanced synaptic plasticity in epileptic rats. Additionally, 16S rDNA sequencing revealed that metformin treatment reversed microbiota alterations associated with epilepsy, particularly by increasing the abundances of Alloprevotella, Blautia, Romboutsia, and Phascolarctobacterium, while reducing Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group and Ruminococcus 1. This modulation helped reduce the release of microbial toxins and promoted intestinal homeostasis maintenance. Further mechanistic studies involving proteomics and ELISA testing showed that metformin treatment inhibited the TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB pathway and alleviated systemic inflammation in epileptic rats. As can be seen, metformin therapy's amelioration of cognitive impairment in epilepsy may be facilitated by the gut microbiota, with the underlying mechanism potentially involving the suppression of TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB signaling and the mitigation of inflammation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
41359249What Socratic holds
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.