2 Plasma quantification of metformin Concentrations

of basal metformin level in plasma were determined using a modified ultra high-pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC) assay with UV DAD (diode array detector) as initially described [30]. Liquid–liquid extraction of metformin was performed as follows: 200 μl of plasma DAPT in vitro sample was buffered by adding 200 μl of 8 M sodium hydroxide and spiked with 40 μl phenylbiguanide (internal standard). Then 2.6 ml of a mixture of 50:50 1-butanol/n-hexane was added, the mixture centrifuged and 200 μl of 1 % acetic acid was added to the upper organic layer. The mixture was centrifuged, the upper organic layer discarded and 5 μl of the aqueous layer was then injected onto a Kinetex® Hilic column (100 × 4.6 mm ID, 2.6 μm) maintained at 40 °C. Flow rate PRIMA-1MET clinical trial was set 1 ml/min and compounds were detected at 234 nm on an Agilent DAD (1260 Infinity®). Retention times for phenylbiguanide and metformin were respectively 3.0 and 4.5 min. Lower limit of quantification was 15 ng/ml.

Based on quality control samples, intraday and between-days precision and accuracy were less than 10 % over the entire range of quantification. Statistics The EX 527 datasheet Results were presented as mean values ± SD. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-tailed Mann–Whitney out U test with GraphPad Prism software. P values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results Metformin has no effect on in vivo bone loss induced by ovariectomy in mice To investigate the effect of metformin on the bone loss induced by ovariectomy in tibia, we subjected 12-week-old female C57BL/6-129Sv mice to ovariectomy (OVX) and metformin treatment by gavage for 4 weeks. To confirm that metformin treatment administered by gavage was effective, we assessed metformin concentration in plasma and showed its detection solely in the plasma of the treatment group (Fig. 1a). Four weeks of treatment with metformin

induced a trend for total body weight loss in mice, although this did not reach statistical significance (Fig. 1b). Visceral and subcutaneous fat weights were not modified by metformin treatment (Fig. 1c). Fig. 1 Effect of metformin treatment on plasma metformin concentration, body and tissue weights in ovariectomised mice. a Metformin concentration was quantified by HPLC analysis in plasma of all mice after 4 weeks of treatment with saline and metformin. b Body weight difference between start and end of metformin treatment period in ovariectomised wild-type mice. c Weights of i subcutaneous fat and ii visceral fat after 4 weeks of treatment with saline and metformin in ovariectomised wild-type mice.