Paweł Jonczyk

Metformin — today’s panacea?

Metformin is still an immutable basic hypoglycemic drug used in pharmacotherapy of diabetes mellitus type 2. structurally it belongs to biguanide derivatives that was discovered in traditional herbalism. Galega officinalis was a plant used to obtain substances similar to metformin. this drug can induce a state in a cell, which occurs as a result of caloric restriction. It consists in decreasing the effectiveness of IGF-1 metabolic pathway with the insulin-like growth factor 1 and mtOr kinase activity, thus metformin contributes to extend a lifespan among animals. this article presents a brief overview of studies about anti-aging potential of metformin. beside this, the authors have described caloric restriction role taking part in a lifespan as well as slowing down incidence of age related diseases. (clin Diabetol 2016; 5, 4: 117–122)