A research group led by Professor Wataru Ogawa of Kobe University revealed in a human study that the most widely used diabetes treatment drug in the world has the effect of "excreting glucose in the stool". bottom.
Metformin has been used for over 60 years and is still the most commonly used diabetes treatment in the world.Drinking metformin lowers the blood glucose level (concentration of glucose in the blood) of patients, but the mechanism is not clear, and research on the mechanism of action of metformin is being actively conducted all over the world.
This time, we are conducting bioimaging research using a new radiation diagnostic device (PET-MRI) that integrates a PET (positron emission tomography) device and an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) device.This device administers a substance similar to glucose (FDG) into a patient's blood vessels and then finds out where in the body the FDG collects.By doing this, we investigated the movement of glucose in the bodies of diabetic patients who took metformin and those who did not.
As a result, it was found that glucose collects in the intestines of patients taking metformin.Furthermore, when examined separately for the "wall of the intestine" and "in the intestine (feces and other contents)", the part of the small intestine near the anus (ileum) and beyond is found in the body of the patient taking metformin. It was found that a lot of glucose gathers "in the intestine".On the other hand, there was no difference in the way glucose was collected on the "intestinal wall" depending on whether or not metformin was taken.
This time, it was discovered for the first time that metformin has the effect of "excreting glucose in the stool."This action may explain the effects of various previously unknown metformins, and it is hoped that this discovery will lead to the development of new therapeutic agents for diabetes.
