Zhu Xudong, Shen Weiyan, Liu Zhu, Sheng Shihao, Xiong Wei, He Ruikun, Zhang Xuguang, Ma Likun, Ju Zhenyu
Key Laboratory of Aging and Cancer Biology of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Ageing Research, Hangzhou Normal University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China.
Key Laboratory of Regenerative Medicine of Ministry of Education, Guangzhou Regenerative Medicine and Health Guangdong Laboratory, Institute of Aging and Regenerative Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Front Cell Dev Biol. 2021 Jan 26;8:626011. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.626011. eCollection 2020.
The antidiabetic drug metformin exerts pleiotropic effects on multiple organs, including the cardiovascular system. Evidence has shown that metformin improves healthspan and lifespan in male mice, yet its lifespan lengthening effect in females remains elusive. We herein demonstrated that metformin fails to extend the lifespan in female mice. Compared to 2-month-old young controls, 20-month-old female mice showed a spectrum of degenerative cardiac phenotypes alongside significant alterations in the extracellular matrix composition. Despite lowered reactive oxygen species production, long-term metformin treatment did not improve cardiac function in the aged female mice. In contrast, RNA sequencing analyses demonstrated that metformin treatment elevated the extracellular matrix-related gene while lowering oxidative phosphorylation-related gene expression in the heart. In addition, metformin treatment induced metabolic reprogramming that suppressed mitochondrial respiration but activated glycolysis (i.e., Warburg effect) in cultured primary cardiomyocytes and macrophages, thereby sustaining an inflammatory status and lowering ATP production. These findings suggest the unexpected detrimental effects of metformin on the regulation of cardiac homeostasis and longevity in female mice, reinforcing the significance of comprehensive testing prior to the translation of metformin-based novel therapies.
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