Beneficial Effects of Metformin on the Central Nervous System, with a Focus on Epilepsy and Lafora Disease

17 páginas, 2 figuras
Metformin is a drug in the family of biguanide compounds that is widely used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Interestingly, the therapeutic potential of metformin expands its prescribed use as an anti-diabetic drug. In this sense, it has been described that metformin administration has beneficial effects on different neurological conditions. In this work, we review the beneficial effects of this drug as a neuroprotective agent in different neurological diseases, with a special focus on epileptic disorders and Lafora disease, a particular type of progressive myoclonus epilepsy. In addition, we review the different proposed mechanisms of action of metformin to understand its function at the neurological level.
This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation –SAF2017-83151-R to P.S. and Rti2018-095784b-100 SAF to M.P.S. and J.M.S.—and a grant from the National Institutes of Health (P01 NS097197), which established the Lafora Epilepsy Cure Initiative (LECI), to P.S., J.M.S. and M.P.S.