| Furthermore , administration of metformin as well as 5 aminoimidazole 4 carboxamide ribonucleoside , an AMPK agonist , significantly increased eNOS Ser 1179 phosphorylation , NO bioactivity , and coimmunoprecipitation of eNOS with hsp 90 in wild type C57BL6 mice but not in AMPK alpha 1 knockout mice , suggesting that AMPK is required for metformin enhanced eNOS activation in vivo . ^^^ Taken together , our results indicate that metformin might improve vascular endothelial functions in diabetes by increasing AMPK dependent , hsp 90 mediated eNOS activation . . ^^^ |