Paper Title
THE EFFECT OF METFORMIN ON GENE EXPRESSIONS IN THE AMPK/MTOR PATHWAY IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS OF RATS WITH EXPERIMENTAL SPINAL CORD INJURY

Abstract
Background/Objectives: Cognitive function losses and some structural disorders in the hippocampus can be seen in the long term after spinal cord injury (SCI). Recent studies show that metformin may have a positive effect on cognitive functions. Based on this information, in our study, the effect of metformin administration on cell survival pathways in the hippocampus was investigated after SCI. Methods: Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats (n=35) were divided (n=7) into 5 groups as control, SCI-1, SCI-2, SCI-MET1 and SCI-MET2. The control and SCI-2 groups received 2 weeks of SF, the SCI-SF1 group received 1 week of SF, the SCI-MET1 group received 1 week of metformin, and the SCI-MET2 group received intraperitoneal metformin for 2 weeks. AMPK and mTOR gene expression levels in hippocampus tissues obtained after craniectomy and dissection were determined by the qPCR method and statistical differences were calculated using a one-way ANOVA test. Results: It was determined that the hippocampal AMPK level increased statistically significantly (p<0.001) in the SCI-MET1 and SCI-MET2 groups given metformin after SCI. While the mTOR level increased in SCI-1 (p<0.05) and SCI-2 (p<0.01) groups, it was observed that it was close to the control level (p>0.05) in SCI-MET1 and SCI-MET2 groups. Conclusion: These results show that the mTOR level in the hippocampus tissues starts to increase after SCI and the increase in AMPK level induced by metformin treatment activates the AMPK/mTOR pathway, lowering the mTOR level and regulating autophagy-apoptosis mechanisms in the hippocampus. Keywords - SCI, Metformin, AMPK, MTOR, Hippocampus