title: An old drug for new ideas: metformin promotes adult neurogenesis and spatial memory formation.
abstract: Identifying well-tolerated, oral medications that enhance adult neurogenesis is of great clinical interest. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Wang et al. (2012) demonstrate that the diabetes medication metformin enhances spatial learning in mice by activating the atypical PKC/CBP pathway in adult neural stem cells.
authors: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
authors: Matthew B
authors: MB
authors: Potts
authors: Daniel A
authors: DA
authors: Lim
mesh_terms: D000263:Adenylate Kinase / Q000378:metabolism; D000284:Administration, Oral; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D050882:CREB-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008687:Metformin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008687:Metformin; D050882:CREB-Binding Protein; D011493:Protein Kinase C; D000263:Adenylate Kinase