Synthesis, biological activity and toxicity of chromium(III) metformin complex as potential insulin-mimetic agent in C57BL/6 mice

As an oral hypoglycemic agent, metformin (Met) has become a best-selling inexpensive drug worldwide. In this thesis, [Cr(metformin)₃] (CrMet) complex was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis (EA), electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), UV-visible (UV-vis), and molar conductivity. Meanwhile, the molecule structure of CrMet complex was optimized using Gaussian 09. Considering the therapeutic effect of Met and Met/Cr(III) complex on type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), the biological activities of CrMet in streptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice were evaluated in detail from the aspects of fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting serum insulin (FINS), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels. These results indicated that CrMet had beneficial function on blood glucose (BG) and lipid metabolism for diabetes. Additionally, the results of cytotoxicity and toxicity experiments showed that CrMet had no damage to cells and relatively high safety in mice. It maybe a potential candidate as a therapeutic agent in T2DM.