The Anti-Aging Effect of Metformin (Glucophage) on Buccal Mucosa of Albino Rats

Abstract

:Background: Aging is defined as physiologic integrity's continual loss, which leads to impaired function, with its main hallmarks being genomic instability, oxidative stresses, and mitochondrial dysfunction. To ameliorate aging, well-studied FDA-approved drugs used for other purposes were suggested to be used as anti-aging drugs. One of these drugs is metformin, which is already used as an antidiabetic agent. Yet, metformin anti-aging mechanisms are ambiguous. Thus, the current work shed light on the anti-aging effect of metformin.Methods: Twenty-one male adult albino rats were equally randomly separated into three groups (n = 7). Saline was administered to the control group. To simulate aging, D-galactose was injected subcutaneously once a day for 8 weeks (aging group). Aged rats in the metformin group were given a daily single oral gavage dosage of metformin at a dosage of 300 mg/kg/day. After 8 weeks, all groups had their blood samples drawn at random, and the amounts of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the blood were compared to assess lipid peroxidation. Then, rats were slaughtered. Samples of buccal mucosa were obtained for assessment of oxidative stress by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene expression, histopathological and ultrastructural examinations, as well as DNA damaging markers assessment (comet assay).Results: The MDA level, iNOS gene expression, and DNA damage were all reduced in the metformin group compared to the aging group (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, and P = 0.002, respectively). Results from histopathology and ultrastructural analysis demonstrated that metformin administration could mitigate some of the degenerative effects brought on by D-galactose.Conclusion: As an anti-aging drug, metformin showed promising outcomes. To apply these findings to human trials, more investigations are still needed.