Response to rosenfeld

摘要

To the Editor: We appreciate Dr. Rosenfeld bringing attention to a recent report by Imfeld et al. (1) suggesting that long-term metformin use may increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease in elderly patients with diabetes mellitus. In fact, a number of clinical and preclinical reports within the past 5 years have provided conflicting data on the relationship between Alzheimer's disease and metformin. In neuronal cell cultures, metformin can increase production of beta-amyloid peptides via transcriptional upregulation of beta-secretase activity (2). However, in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes, metformin treatment was associated with a reduction in phosphorylated tau and total tau proteins, primary components of neuronbrillary tangles (3).