Metformin enhances endogenous neural stem cells proliferation, neuronal differentiation, and inhibits ferroptosis through activating AMPK pathway after spinal cord injury.

Metformin, driven by canonical AMPK-dependent regulation, promotes proliferation and neuronal differentiation of endogenous NSCs while inhibiting ferroptosis, thereby facilitating recovery of locomotor function following SCI. Our study further elucidates the protective mechanism of metformin in SCI, providing new mechanistic insights for its candidacy as a therapeutic agent for SCI.