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The interference between metformin treatment and TSH level in euthyroid type 2 diabetic patients

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Abstract

Metformin is a widely described drug in treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes. Although its mechanism of action is not well understood, new evidence supports that metformin could affect thyroid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes. Aim of this study was to access the effect of metformin treatment on thyroid axis hormones in diabetic patients with normal thyroid function. Thus, one hundred eight euthyroid subjects were selected for being healthy controls, obese insulin resistant not treated with metformin, and diabetic non-obese or diabetic obese treated with metformin. Circulating hormones were determined by ELISA. Our data show that thyroid function parameters were not significantly different in diabetic subjects treated with metformin compared to healthy controls. However, diabetics showed significantly lower thyrotropin levels than those of obese insulin resistant subjects untreated with metformin. Further, no significant change in free T4 was observed. In conclusions metformin administration may affect thyroid axis in type 2 diabetic patients. Interestingly, it seems to bring some benefits by maintaining plasma thyrotropin levels to subnormal levels in diabetics. However, more investigations are needed to elucidate the exact mechanism at a cellular and molecular level.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Pr. Abdeljélil Zaouche for the help to subject recruitment from Chirurgic Visceral Service of Charles Nicolle Hospital. This work was supported by a PHC-Utique Program/CMCU Grant No 06G0910 for Soumaya Kouidhi and EU contract No 018652 “CRESCENDO.”

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that would prejudice the impartiality of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Genetics, Immunology and Human Pathologies, Department of Biology, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, CAMPUS, Tunis-El Manar University, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Soumaya Kouidhi, Rym Berhouma, Meriem Ammar, Kamel Rouissi, Hafawa Abid, Raja Marrakchi, Hajer Guissouma & Amel Benammar Elgaaied

  2. CNRS UMR 7221 Evolution of Endocrines Regulations, Department Regulations, Development and Molecular Diversity, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 57 Rue Cuvier, CP 32, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Barbara Demeneix

  3. Service of Visceral Chirurgy, Hospital Charles Nicolle Tunisis, Tunis, Tunisia

    Slim Jarboui

Authors
  1. Soumaya Kouidhi
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  2. Rym Berhouma
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  3. Meriem Ammar
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  4. Kamel Rouissi
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  5. Hafawa Abid
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  7. Raja Marrakchi
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  9. Hajer Guissouma
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  10. Amel Benammar Elgaaied
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Correspondence to Soumaya Kouidhi.

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Kouidhi, S., Berhouma, R., Ammar, M. et al. The interference between metformin treatment and TSH level in euthyroid type 2 diabetic patients. Med Chem Res 22, 1465–1469 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-012-0136-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-012-0136-5

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