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. 2020 Dec 16;13:5003–5014. doi: 10.2147/DMSO.S286430

Table 1.

The Effects of Metformin on Composition of Gut Microbiota in T2DM or Obese Mice

Animal Model Control Group (Number) Metformin Treatment Group (Number) Effect of Metformin on Gut Microbiota Country Method for Detection Author, Year and References
1 C57BL/6 mice (4 weeks old) HFD for 8 weeks + HFD for 6 weeks (n=6) HFD for 8 weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) for 6 weeks (n=6) Phylum: Verrucomicrobia↑ Genus: Akkermansia Korea 16S rRNA Shin et al 201426
2 C57BL/6 mice (6 weeks old) HFD for 18weeks + HFD for 10weeks (n=N/A) HFD for 18weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) for 10weeks (n=N/A) Phylum: Bacteroidetes↑, Verrucomicrobia↑ Family: Bacteroidaceae↑, Verrucomicrobiaceae↑, Clostridiales family XIII↑ Species: Akkermansia muciniphila↑, Clostridium cocleatum Korea 16S rRNA, qPCR Lee et al 201427
3 C57BL/6J mice (3 weeks old) HFD for 12 weeks + HDF for 6 weeks (n=3) HFD for 12 weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) for 6 weeks (n=3) Genus: Lactococcus, Coprococcus, Ruminococcus, Staphylococcus, Akkermansia, Streptococcus, Oscillospira, Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, Clostridium, Dorea changed USA 16S rRNA, Bornstein et al 201728
4 Obese diabetic db/db mice (8 weeks old) Distilled water for 8 weeks (n=10) Metformin treatment(20mg/kg/d) for 8 weeks (n=10) Genus: Bacteroidales↑, Lactobacillus↑, Allobaculum↑, Bacteroides↑, Akkermansia↑, Staphylococcus↓, Corynebacterium↓, Jeotgalicoccus↓, Aerococcus↓, Enterococcus↓, Facklamia China 16S rRNA Chen et al 201837
5 C57BL/6N mice (6 weeks old) HFD for 23 weeks + HFD for 16 weeks (n=6) HFD for 23weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (250mg/kg/d) for 16 weeks (n=6) Phylum: Verrucomicrobia↑, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio↓ Genus: Akkermansia↑, Bacteroides↑, Butyricimonas↑, Parabacteroides Korea 16S rRNA, qPCR Lee et al 201829
6 KKAy mice (8–9 weeks old) HFD for 3 weeks + HFD with saline solution for 8 weeks (n=6) HFD for 3 weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (314mg/kg/d) for 8 weeks (n=6) Phylum: Bacteroidetes↑, Verrucomicrobia↑, Actinobacteria↓, Firmicutes↓ Genus: Bacteroides↑, Blautia↑, Escherichia_Shigella↑, Akkermansia↑, Aerococcus↓, Lactobacillus↓, Corynebacterium_1↓, Staphylococcus China 16S rRNA Gao et al 201839
7 C57BL/6J mice HFD for 4 weeks + HFD for 10 weeks (n=8) HFD for 4 weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (100mg/kg/d) for 10 weeks (n=8) Species: Bacteriodetes fragilis↑, Escherichia coli Korea 16S rRNA, qPCR Wang et al 201830
8 C57BL/6J mice (3 weeks old) HFD for 4 weeks + STZ+ HFD with saline for 5 weeks (n=6) HFD for 4 weeks + STZ + HFD with metformin treatment (200mg/kg/d or 75mg/kg/d) for 5 weeks (n=6) Phylum: Firmicutes↓ Genus: Akkermansia↑ Species: Bacteroides spp.↓ China 16S rRNA Zheng et al 201831
9 C57BL/6J mice (6 weeks old) HFD with saline for 3 weeks (n=5) HFD with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) 3 weeks (n=5) Genus: Enterococcus, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Akkermansia changed China 16S rRNA Ji et al 201932
10 db/db mice (8 weeks old) Saline solution for 11 weeks (n=5) Metformin treatment (113.75mg/kg/d) for 11 weeks (n=5) Genus: Butyricimonas↑, Lactobacillus↑, Coprococcus↑, Ruminococcus↑, Akkermansia↑ Genus: Prevotella↓, Proteus China 16S rRNA, qPCR Zhang et al 201938
11 ICR mice (8 weeks old) HFD+STZ+HFD for 4 weeks (n=10) HFD+STZ+HFD with metformin treatment (200mg/kg/d) for 4 weeks (n=10) Phylum: Firmicutes↑, Bacteroidetes↓, Proteobacteria↓ Species: Lactobacillus spp.↑, Lactobacillales China 16S rRNA Chen et al 201940
12 C57BL/6J mice (6–8 weeks old) FFC for 4 days (n=6) FFC with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) for 4 days (n=6) Species: Lactobacillus animalis↓, Unclassifed members of Burkholderia and Romboutsia genera↓, An unclassified member of Alloprevotella family Austria 16S rRNA Brandt et al 201933
13 C57BL/6 mice (3 weeks old) HFD for 12 weeks + HFD for 12 weeks (n=14) HFD for 12 weeks + HFD with metformin treatment (300mg/kg/d) for 12 weeks (n=14) Phylum: Bacteroidetes↑, Verrucomicrobia↑, Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio↓ Genus: Bacteroides↑, Akkermansia↑, Parabacteroides↑, Christensenella↑, Clostridiales other↑, AF-12↓, Muribaculum↓, Clostridiaceae other↓, Lachnoclostridium↓, Coprococcus↓, Dorea↓, Papillibacter↓, Oscillospira↓, Ruminococcus↓, Desulfovibrio↓, Desulfovibrionaceae Ireland 16S rRNA Ryan et al 202034
14 C57BL/6J mice (5 weeks old) HFD for 14 weeks (n=12) HFD with metformin treatment (200mg/kg/d) for 14 weeks (n=12) Family: Lachnospiraceae USA 16S rRNA Chung et al 202035
15 C57BL/6J mice (78 weeks old) HFD for 11 weeks (n=5–7) HFD with metformin treatment (100mg/kg/d) for 11 weeks (n=5–7) Phylum: Bacteroidetes↑ Genus: Genera belonging to S24_7, Ruminococcaceae, and Lactococcus↑, Genera belonging to Veilonellaceae, Coriobacteriaceae, Lactobacillus, Dorea, SMB53, Roseburia, and Dehalobacterium USA 16S rRNA Ahmadi et al 202036

Notes: ↑, Increase; ↓, decrease.

Abbreviations: N/A, not available; STZ, streptozotozin; HFD, high-fat diet; FFC, fat-fructose- and cholesterol-rich diet.