ArticleSpinal cord2018
Anti-inflammatory effects of Metformin improve the neuropathic pain and locomotor activity in spinal cord injured rats: introduction of an alternative therapy.
Article in Spinal cord, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 4 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
48 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metformin's therapeutic potential in spinal cord injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis on locomotor recovery, neuropathic pain alleviation, and modulation of secondary injury mechanisms.Acta neurochirurgica · 2025Pooled it
- The effect of metformin on ameliorating neurological function deficits and tissue damage in rats following spinal cord injury: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effect of Metformin on Locomotor Function Recovery in Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model: A Meta-analysis.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2021Pooled it
- The Effect of Metformin on Chemotherapy-Induced Toxicities in Non-diabetic Breast Cancer Patients: A Randomised Controlled Study.Drug safety · 2023Trial
- The Antidiabetic Metformin as an Adjunct to Antidepressants in Patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A Proof-of-Concept, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2020Trial
- Therapeutic effectiveness of conditioned medium derived from adipose tissue mesenchymal stem cells and dehydroepiandrosterone in a rat model of spinal cord injury.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Metformin and incidence of age-related macular degeneration in people with diabetes: a population-based 5-year case-control study.BMJ open ophthalmology · 2026Article
- Roles of noncoding RNAs in neuropathic pain.Pain reports · 2025Review
- An Updated Review on the Complex Association of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Depression.Current cardiology reviews · 2025Review
- Facile fabrication of selegiline-loaded alginate hydrogel for neuroprotection and functional recovery in a rat model of spinal cord injury through localized spinal delivery.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2025Article
- Metformin and fibromyalgia pathophysiology: current insights and promising future therapeutic strategies.Molecular biology reports · 2024Review
- Article
- Beneficial effect of metformin on tolerance to analgesic effects of sodium salicylate in male rats.The Korean journal of pain · 2024Article
- A Modern Approach to the Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Impaired Carbohydrate Metabolism among Women with Chronic Low Back Pain and the Role of Dietary Carbohydrates: A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Experiment.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Protective Effects of Glatiramer Acetate Against Paclitaxel-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Rats: A Role for Inflammatory Cytokines and Oxidative Stress.Neurochemical research · 2024Article
- Anti-Neuroinflammatory Effects of Adaptogens: A Mini-Review.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- The Pharmacological Treatment of Neuropathic Pain in Children.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
STUDY
designThis is an animal study.
objectivesMetformin is a safe drug for controlling blood sugar in diabetes. It has been shown that metformin improves locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI). Neuropathic pain is also a disturbing component of SCI. It is indicated that metformin has neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects, which attenuate neuropathic pain and hyperalgesia in injured nerves. Thus, we evaluated metformin's therapeutic effects on SCI neuroinflammation and its sensory and locomotor complications. Meanwhile, results were compared to minocycline, an anti-neuroinflammation therapy in SCI.
settingExperimental Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
methodsIn an animal model of SCI, 48 male rats were subjected to T9 vertebra laminectomy. Animals were divided into a SHAM-operated group and five treatment groups. The treatments included normal saline as a vehicle control group, minocycline 90 mg/kg and metformin at the doses of 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg. Locomotor scaling, behavioral tests for neuropathic pain and weight changes were evaluated and compared through a 28-days period. At the end of the study, tissue samples were taken to assess neuroinflammatory changes.
resultsMetformin 50 mg/kg improved the locomotors ability (p < 0.001) and decreased sensitivity to mechanical and thermal allodynia (p < 0.01). These results were compatible with minocycline effect on SCI (p > 0.05). While metformin led to weight loss, both metformin and minocycline significantly decreased neuroinflammation in the assessment of cord tissue histopathology, and levels of TNF-α and interleukin-1β (p < 0.001).
conclusionsMetformin could be considered as an alternative therapeutic agent for SCI, as it potentially attenuates neuroinflammation, sensory and locomotor complications of cord injury.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.