Glucostatic modulation of the hypothalamus by phenformin

Phenformin, an oral anti-diabetic biguanide, diminished lateral hypothalamic self-stimulation in rats and restored ventromedial hypothalamus vulnerability to gold thioglucose in diabetic mice. Those effects were independent of hypoglycemia or general locomotor activity depression. This indicated that phenformin, the same as insulin, facilitates transport and metabolism of glucose into the ventromedial hypothalamic region, and in this way, modulated the inhibitory tone this area exerts on the lateral hypothalamus.