Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb;3(2):148-57.
doi: 10.18632/aging.100273.

If started early in life, metformin treatment increases life span and postpones tumors in female SHR mice

Vladimir N Anisimov  1 , Lev M Berstein, Irina G Popovich, Mark A Zabezhinski, Peter A Egormin, Tatiana S Piskunova, Anna V Semenchenko, Margarita L Tyndyk, Maria N Yurova, Irina G Kovalenko, Tatiana E Poroshina
Affiliations

If started early in life, metformin treatment increases life span and postpones tumors in female SHR mice

Vladimir N Anisimov et al. Aging (Albany NY). 2011 Feb.

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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors of this manuscript have no conflict of interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Age-related dynamics of body weight (A), food consumption (B), body temperature (C) and of the incidence of mice with irregular estrous cycles (D) in SHR mice not treated and treated with metformin starting at the age of 3, 9 or 15 months. The difference with the controls is significant, p<0.05: а- metformin 3 m; b - metformin 9 m; c - metformin 15 m)
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Survival curves and tumor yield curves in female in SHR mice not treated and treated with metformin starting at the age of 3 (A, B), 9 (C, D) or 15 months (E, F).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Gerosuppressant metformin: less is more.
    Menendez JA, Cufí S, Oliveras-Ferraros C, Vellon L, Joven J, Vazquez-Martin A. Menendez JA, et al. Aging (Albany NY). 2011 Apr;3(4):348-62. doi: 10.18632/aging.100316. Aging (Albany NY). 2011. PMID: 21483040 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Bartke A, Chandrashekar V, Dominici F, Turyn D, Kinney B, Steger R, Kopchick H. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and aging: controversies and new insights. Biogerontology. 2003;4:1–8. - PubMed
    1. Facchini FS, Hua NW, Reaven GM, Stoohs RA. Hyperinsulinemia: the missing link among oxidative stress and age-related diseases? Free Radicals Biol Med. 2000;29:1302–1306. - PubMed
    1. Dilman VM. Chur: Harwood Academic Publ; 1994. Development, Aging and Disease. A New Rationale for an Intervention.
    1. Gupta K, Krishnaswamy G, Karnad A, Peiris AN. Insulin: a novel factor in carcinogenesis. Am J Med Sci. 2002;323:140–145. - PubMed
    1. Giovannucci E, Harlan DM, Archer MC, Bergenstal RM, Gapstur SM, Habel LA, Pollak M, Regensteiner JG, Yee D. Diabetes and cancer: a consensus report. CA Cancer J Clin. 2010;60:207–221. - PubMed

Publication types