Evaluation of The Effect of Metformin on The Pro-liferation Rate and Antioxidant Enzymes Activity of Mesen-chymal Stem Cells

Objective: Stem cells are used in tissue engineering due to self-renewal properties and ability to differentiate into differ-ent lineages. Much attention has been paid to improving culture conditions, increasing the capacity and capability of mesenchy-mal stem cells (MSCs) for cell transplantation. In this study, the viability rate and antioxidant enzyme activity at passage ۳ of metformin-treated rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (rBM-MSCs) were evaluated.Materials and Methods: rBM-MSCs were collected form tibia and femora of rat and then the extracted stem cells were cultured in ۹۶-well plate, and treated with ۱, ۵, ۱۰, ۱۵ and ۵۰ µM of metformin for ۲۴ hours. Then the cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay. SOD enzyme activity (prevention of photochemical reduction of NBT), GPX (NADPH consump-tion) and MDA levels were measured in the cells.Results: The results of this study indicate that the proliferation rate at ۱۵ and ۵۰ µM metformin showed a significant increase compared to the other treated and control groups. Metformin-treated cell groups showed higher antioxidant capacity than the control group. The markers of lipid peroxidation were de-creased in the treated group with metformin.Conclusion: Therefore, metformin may be suggested as a pre-therapist to strengthen MSCs before transplantation. In addition to using metformin in other fields, it can also be used to reduce oxidative stress.