Similarities and Differences in the Intestinal Actions of Metformin and Imeglimin

We investigated the intestinal actions of metformin and imeglimin by transcriptomic profiling. Bulk RNA-seq was performed on intestinal tissues from C57BL/6J mice after single or chronic drug administration, and single-cell RNA-seq was conducted on colon samples after chronic treatment. Overall design: Bulk RNA-seq: Male C57BL/6J mice received (i) a single oral dose of metformin or imeglimin (600 mg/kg) with colon harvested at 6 h, or (ii) chronic exposure via drinking water (3 mg/mL) for 4 weeks, with proximal/middle/distal small intestine and colon collected. Single-cell RNA-seq: Colonic cells from mice treated with metformin or imeglimin in drinking water for 12 weeks were dissociated and processed with 10x Genomics Chromium Fixed RNA Profiling; sequencing on NovaSeq 6000.