In the in vitro experiment studied the effect of different doses of popular antidiabetic drug metformin (2 to 30 mM) on the erythrocyte osmotic fragility and the content of reduced glutathione. It was shown that a 60-minute pre-incubation of whole blood of healthy donors with metformin leads to decrease the resistance of erythrocytes to hypotonic solutions. The observed effect is dose-dependent in the linear range of final concentrations of metformin from 3 mM to 10 mM. Incubation of whole blood with metformin leads to substantial depletion of the pool of reduced glutathione, which can be considered as a possible mechanism for reducing their osmotic fragility. We cannot exclude the direct modification by metformin of cellular mechanisms of transmembrane transport of ions and water in the red blood cells.
metformin, osmotic fragiditn of red blood cells, reduced glutathione
1. Wang J., Gallagher D., DeVito L.M. [et al.] Metformin activates an atypical PKC-CBP pathway to promote neurogenesis and enhance spatial memory formation. Cell Stem Cell, 2012, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 23-35.
2. Rykova O.V. Diagnoz SPKYa - diagnoz isklyucheniya. Sovremennye laboratornye vozmozhnosti. Medicinskie aspekty zdorov'ya zhenschiny, 2014, t. 2/1, № 77, 69 s. [Rykova O.V. Diagnosis of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome - a diagnosis of exclusion. Modern laboratory capacity. Medical aspects of women's health, 2014, vol. 2/1, no. 77, 69 p. (In Russ.)]
3. Demidova I.Yu., Gorohova T.V. Mehanizm deystviya i klinicheskoe primenenie metformina. Farmateka, 2009, t. 17, s. 12-13. [Demidova I.Yu., Gorohova T.V. The mechanism of action and clinical use of metformin. Farmateka, 2009, vol. 17, pp. 12-13. (In Russ.)]
4. Shawn M., Cripps R. Diabetes Mellitus and Increased Risk of Cancer: Focus on Metformin and the Insulin Analogs. Pharmacotherapy, 2010, vol. 30, no. 11, pp. 1159-1178.
5. Medvedev B.I., Pomaskin I.N., Nikolaeva I.S., Markina O.K. Adrenoreaktivnost' eritrocitov v dinamike razvitiya neoslozhnennoy beremennosti i lechenii ugrozy prezhdevremennyh rodov. Vestnik Yuzhno-Ural'skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta, 2009, t.39, №172, 125 s. [Medvedev B.I., Pomaskin I.N., Nikolaeva I.S. Markina O.K. Adrenoreactivity erythrocytes in dynamics of uncomplicated pregnancy and the treatment of preterm labor. Bull. of South Ural State University, 2009, vol.39, no.172, 125 p. (In Russ.)]
6. Smirnova O.M. Mesto metformina v sovremennom lechenii profilaktike saharnogo diabeta 2 tipa. Saharnyy diabet, 2010, t. 3, s. 83. [Smirnova O.M Place of metformin in the modern treatment of prevention of type 2 diabetes. Diabetes, 2010, vol. 3, r. 83. (In Russ.)]
7. Krysova A.V., Kunshin A.A., Cirkin V.I Polovye osobennosti osmoticheskoy rezistentnosti eritrocitov cheloveka, vyyavlyaemye pri ekspozicii eritrocitov v distillirovannoy vode. Fiziologiya. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo un-ta im. N.I. Lobachevskogo, 2011, t.2, №2, s. 266-272. [Krysova A.V. et al. Sexual peculiarities of osmotic resistance of human erythrocytes, detected with an exposure of erythrocytes in distilled water. Physiology Herald of Lobachevsky University, 2011, vol.2, no.2, pp. 266-272. (In Russ)]
8. Gritti M. [et al.] Metformin repositioning as antitumoral agent: selective antiproliferative effects in human glioblastoma stem cells, via inhibition of CLIC1-mediated ion current. Oncotarget., 2014, vol. 5, no. 22, pp. 11252-11268.
