Science Letters

Effects of Metformin on Gut Microbiota and Metabolism

Dosieah Pooja, Luxuan Tan, Zhenyu Zhang*

Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (Nanjing First Hospital), 210006, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Metformin is considered to be the major line of treatment regarding the metabolic disorders as an example of obesity as well as type 2 diabetes. According to recent studies done, it has been reported that Metformin has a direct influence on the gut microbiota. However, the main aetiology is still unclear about the correlation between metformin and the gut microbiota. In addition, Metformin is also a well-known agent in the biguanide family that plays an important role in the treatment of diabetes because of its ability to decrease the production of glucose in the liver cells, which leads to the enhancement of insulin sensitivity and raising the peripheral glucose intake in both the hepatic as well as the skeletal muscle. Another function of metformin is the rapid induction of the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which is highly correlated with energy balance and the metabolism of glucose. The cellular ratio of the AMP/ATP could be also maintained via enhancing the consumption of ATP and suppressing the production of ATP, which is highly associated with the AMPK activation. Some studies have demonstrated that metformin has the ability to regulate the hepatic glycogenesis in addition to increasing the hyperglycemia dependent AMPK pathway, thus it is highly revealing that metformin can cause metabolic disorders depending on the energy status of the human body. The main objective of this study was to write a descriptive review of the literature of the past ten years in order to clarify the effects of metformin on the gut microbiota and metabolism.