Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Culture of Bladder Cancer Organoids as Precision Medicine Tools
Published on: December 28, 2021
Effects of Biguanides on Growth and Glycolysis of Bladder and Colon Cancer Cells
Michael A Lea1, Haneulsol Kim2, Charles desBORDES2,3
1Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, U.S.A. lea@njms.rutgers.edu.
Abstract:
Background/ Aim: There is evidence that inhibitory effects of biguanides on oxidative phosphorylation require uptake of biguanides into the mitochondria. In this study the action of two biguanides that enter the mitochondria (buformin and phenformin) were compared with the action of two biguanides with poor uptake (phenyl biguanide and proguanil).
Materials And Methods:
Effects on growth, glucose uptake and medium acidification were studied with two human colon cancer cells and seven bladder cancer cell lines.
Results:
Growth inhibition was greatest with proguanil followed by phenformin, buformin and phenylbiguanide. In contrast, increased glucose uptake and acidification of the medium was observed with buformin and phenformin, with no change or less acidification of the medium with phenyl biguanide and proguanil.
Conclusion:
The effect of biguanides on glucose metabolism requires mitochondrial uptake while the mechanism for growth inhibition by biguanides remains to be defined.
Related Concept Videos
What is Glycolysis?
Cells make energy by breaking down macromolecules. Cellular respiration is the biochemical process that converts "food energy" (from the chemical bonds of macromolecules) into chemical energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). The first step of this tightly regulated and intricate process is glycolysis. The word glycolysis originates from the Latin glyco (sugar) and lysis (breakdown). Glycolysis serves two main intracellular functions: generating ATP and generating...
Outcomes of Glycolysis
Cellular respiration can occur aerobically (with oxygen) or anaerobically (without oxygen). In the presence of oxygen, cellular respiration starts with glycolysis and continues with pyruvate...
Energy-releasing Steps of Glycolysis
The first energy-releasing step—the 6th step of glycolysis...
Energy-requiring Steps of Glycolysis
Glycolysis
The Colonization of Land

