ArticleAging2011
If started early in life, metformin treatment increases life span and postpones tumors in female SHR mice.
Article in Aging, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 162 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
162 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 276 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rapamycin, Not Metformin, Mirrors Dietary Restriction-Driven Lifespan Extension in Vertebrates: A Meta-Analysis.Aging cell · 2025Pooled it
- Metformin and cancer risk and mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis taking into account biases and confounders.Cancer prevention research (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2014 · on this mapPooled it
- Cancer outcomes and all-cause mortality in adults allocated to metformin: systematic review and collaborative meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials.Diabetologia · 2012Pooled it
- From molecular damage to regulatory constraint: epigenetic and metabolic limits of cellular plasticity in aging.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- Article
- Hormones, heat, and health: a comprehensive review of sex-based differences in brown and beige fat biology.Biology of sex differences · 2025Review
- Molecular crosstalk for longevity: exercise and the AMPK/SIRT1/PGC-1α/Irisin/BDNF axis.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- Emerging uncertainty on the anti-aging potential of metformin.Ageing research reviews · 2025Review
- Involvement of NRF2 and AMPK signaling in aging and progeria: a digest.Redox biology · 2025Review
- Repurposing Metformin in Precision Oncology: Mechanistic Insights, Biomarker-Guided Strategies, and Translational Imperatives.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
- Age-related obesity and inflammaging in cats.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2025Review
- Immunotherapies for Aging and Age-Related Diseases: Advances, Pitfalls, and Prospects.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Metformin improves age-related visual cortex dysfunction in mice by reducing noise correlation in the primary visual cortex.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Article
- Geroprotective effects of GdVOBiogerontology · 2024Article
- The Impact of Aging on Neurological Diseases in the Elderly: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Perspectives.Aging and disease · 2024Review
- Cellular senescence by loss of Men1 in osteoblasts is critical for age-related osteoporosis.Aging cell · 2024Article
- Article
- Reproductive Ageing: Inflammation, immune cells, and cellular senescence in the aging ovary.Reproduction (Cambridge, England) · 2024Review
- Early Life Interventions: Impact on Aging and Longevity.Aging and disease · 2024Review
102 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia accelerate both aging and cancer. Antidiabetic biguanides such as metformin decrease glucose, insulin and IGF-1 level. Metformin increases lifespan and prevents cancer in mice, although its effects vary, depending on mice strain and gender. Here we showed that chronic treatment of female outbred SHR mice with metformin started at the age of 3, 9 or 15 months decreased body temperature and postponed age-related switch-off of estrous function. Surprisingly, metformin did not affect levels of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and insulin. Treatment with metformin started at the age of 3 months increased mean life span by 14% and maximum life span by 1 month. The treatment started at the age of 9 months insignificantly increased mean life span by only 6%, whereas the treatment started at the age of 15 months failed to increase life span. The mean life span of tumor-free mice was increased by 21% in 'the youngest group', by 7% in 'middle-aged group' and in contrast was reduced by 13% in 'the oldest group'. When started at the age of 3 and 9 months, metformin delayed the first tumor detection by 22% and 25%, correspondingly. Thus, in female SHR mice, metformin increased life span and postponed tumors when started at the young and middle but not at the old age. In contrast, metformin improves reproductive function when started at any age.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.