BACKGROUND Metformin is the first prescribed drug for hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Mainly by activating AMPK pathway, this drug exerts various functions that among them protective effects are of the interest. PURPOSE Herein, we aimed to gather data about the protective impacts of metformin against various natural or chemical toxicities. RESULTS An extensive search among PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar was conducted by keywords related to protection, toxicity, natural and chemical toxins and, metformin. Our literature review showed metformin alongside its anti-hyperglycemic effect has a wide range of anti-toxic effects against anti-tumour and routine drugs, natural and chemical toxins, herbicides and, heavy metals. CONCLUSION It is evident that metformin is a potent drug against the toxicity of a broad spectrum of natural, chemical toxic agents which is proved by a vast number of studies. Metformin mainly through AMPK axis can protect different organs against toxicities. Moreover, metformin preserves DNA integrity and can be an option for adjuvant therapy to ameliorate side effect of other therapeutics.

中文翻译：

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二甲双胍作为天然或化学毒性的保护剂：关于药物重新定位的全面综述。

背景技术二甲双胍是第一种用于2型糖尿病的高血糖处方药。该药物主要通过激活AMPK途径发挥各种功能，其中的保护作用是令人关注的。目的在此，我们旨在收集有关二甲双胍对各种天然或化学毒性的保护作用的数据。结果通过与保护，毒性，天然和化学毒素以及二甲双胍相关的关键字对PubMed，Scopus和Google Scholar进行了广泛的搜索。我们的文献综述表明，二甲双胍不仅具有抗降血糖作用，而且还具有针对多种抗肿瘤药和常规药物，天然和化学毒素，除草剂以及重金属的多种抗毒作用。结论很明显，二甲双胍是一种有效的药物，可抵抗多种天然，大量研究证明了化学毒剂。二甲双胍主要通过AMPK轴保护不同器官免受毒性作用。此外，二甲双胍可保持DNA完整性，并且可以作为辅助疗法的一种选择，以改善其他疗法的副作用。