ArticleOxidative medicine and cellular longevity2020
Metformin Promotes Axon Regeneration after Spinal Cord Injury through Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Stabilizing Microtubule.
Article in Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 59 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
59 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 90 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
- Pooled 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
- Effect of Metformin on Locomotor Function Recovery in Rat Spinal Cord Injury Model: A Meta-analysis.Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity · 2021Pooled it
- The role of autophagy in spinal cord injury: Mechanisms, crosstalk, and therapeutic strategies.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Ferroptosis in Spine-Related Diseases: Mechanistic Insights and Potential Therapeutic Targets.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Ferroptosis inhibitors: mechanisms of action and therapeutic potential.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2025Review
- Review
- A Review of the Potential Use of Antioxidants in Spinal Cord Injuries.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The beneficial effect of α-lipoic acid on spinal cord injury repair in rats is mediated through inhibition of oxidative stress: A transcriptomic analysis.The journal of spinal cord medicine · 2025Article
- Indole-3-propionic acid promotes Schwann cell proliferation following peripheral nerve injury by activating the PI3K/AKT pathway.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2025Article
- Loading tea polyphenols enhances the repair of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell sheet after spinal cord injury.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Article
- The Possible Role of Metformin and Fibroblast Growth Factor-21 in Multiple Sclerosis Neuropathology: Birds of a Feather Flock Together.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Review
- Autophagy in Tissue Repair and Regeneration.Cells · 2025Review
- Nrf2 Signaling Pathway: Focus on Oxidative Stress in Spinal Cord Injury.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Mechanistic insights into Nrf2-driven pathogenesis and therapeutic targeting in spinal cord injury.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- Advancements in Antioxidant-Based Therapeutics for Spinal Cord Injury: A Critical Review of Strategies and Combination Approaches.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Impact of commonly administered drugs on the progression of spinal cord injury: a systematic review.Communications medicine · 2024Article
- GIP attenuates neuronal oxidative stress by regulating glucose uptake in spinal cord injury of rat.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Nrf2 Signaling Pathway as a Key to Treatment for Diabetic Dyslipidemia and Atherosclerosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating disease that may lead to lifelong disability. Thus, seeking for valid drugs that are beneficial to promoting axonal regrowth and elongation after SCI has gained wide attention. Metformin, a glucose-lowering agent, has been demonstrated to play roles in various central nervous system (CNS) disorders. However, the potential protective effect of metformin on nerve regeneration after SCI is still unclear. In this study, we found that the administration of metformin improved functional recovery after SCI through reducing neuronal cell apoptosis and repairing neurites by stabilizing microtubules via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Inhibiting the PI3K/Akt pathway with LY294002 partly reversed the therapeutic effects of metformin on SCI in vitro and vivo. Furthermore, metformin treatment weakened the excessive activation of oxidative stress and improved the mitochondrial function by activating the nuclear factor erythroid-related factor 2 (Nrf2) transcription and binding to the antioxidant response element (ARE). Moreover, treatment with Nrf2 inhibitor ML385 partially abolished its antioxidant effect. We also found that the Nrf2 transcription was partially reduced by LY294002 in vitro. Taken together, these results revealed that the role of metformin in nerve regeneration after SCI was probably related to stabilization of microtubules and inhibition of the excessive activation of Akt-mediated Nrf2/ARE pathway-regulated oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction. Overall, our present study suggests that metformin administration may provide a potential therapy for SCI.
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