Fig. 2.

Metformin controls CD4⁺ T cell differentiation into effector or regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood. a Eleven-week-old mice were orally administered vehicle or 50 mg/kg metformin daily for 9 weeks (n = 5 per group). Next, PBMCs were stained with antibodies against CD4, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-17, CD25, or Foxp3 and subjected to flow cytometry. Dot plots gated on CD4⁺ T cell population showed CD4⁺IFN-γ⁺ (Th1), CD4⁺IL-4⁺ (Th2), CD4⁺IL-17⁺ (Th17), and CD4⁺CD25⁺Foxp3⁺ (Treg) cells. Numbers in the plots indicate percentages of gated cells. The data were pre-gated on live single cells. b Data are means ± SEMs. Data are representative of three independent experiments (*p < 0.05)