Metformin reduces endothelial cell expression of both the receptor for advanced glycation end products and lectin-like oxidized receptor 1.

Beyond its antihyperglycemic action, the antidiabetic oral drug metformin possesses antioxidant properties that may contribute to improve the cardiovascular deleterious effects of the diabetic disease. We explored whether metformin could modulate the redox-sensible expression of receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) and lectin-like oxidized receptor 1 (LOX-1), 2 endothelial membrane receptors involved in the arterial endothelial dysfunction observed in diabetes. Bovine aortic endothelial cells, either unstimulated or activated by high levels of glucose (30 mmol/L) or advanced glycation end products, were incubated for 72 hours with metformin at therapeutically relevant concentrations (10(-5) to 5 x 10(-4) mol/L). The expressions of RAGE and LOX-1 were evaluated on cell extracts by Western blot analysis. Metformin was shown to reduce, in dose-dependent manner, such expression of the 2 receptors, both in stimulated (by either glucose or advanced glycation end products) and in unstimulated cells. The effect of metformin was associated with a decrease in intracellular reactive oxygen species as assessed using the 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate fluoroprobe. Taken together, our results suggest that the intracellular antioxidant properties of metformin may result in the inhibition of cell expression of both RAGE and LOX-1, possibly through a modulation of redox-sensible nuclear factors such as nuclear factor kappaB, that were shown to be involved in such receptor cell expression.