Serge Luquet
Unité "Biologie Fonctionnelle &
Adaptative"
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS UMR 8251DR1 CNRS
Group leader "Central
COntrol oF Feeding behaviour and Energy Expenditure" (C2OFFEE)
Title
Brain lipid sensing and adaptive response to modern food environment?
Abstract
Obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and dyslipidemia result from metabolic alterations including the defective conversion, storage and utilization of nutrients, but the central mechanisms that regulate this process of nutrient partitioning remain elusive. As positive regulators of feeding behavior, agouti-related protein (AgRP) producing neurons are indispensible for the hypothalamic integration of energy balance. Here, we demonstrate a role for AgRP-neurons in the control of nutrient partitioning. We report that ablation of AgRP neurons leads to a change in autonomic output onto liver, muscle, and pancreas affecting the relative balance between lipids and carbohydrates metabolism. As a consequence, mice lacking AgRP-neurons become obese and hyperinsulinemic on regular chow but display reduced body weight gain and paradoxical improvement in glucose tolerance on high fat diet. These results provide a direct demonstration of a role for AgRP-neurons in the coordination of efferent organ activity and nutrient partitioning, providing a mechanistic link between obesity and obesity-related disorders.
Biosketch
Serge Luquet received his undergraduate degree in Biology &Biochemistry from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France in 2003. During his PhD training he was interested in the role of the fatty-activated transcription factor PPAR delta in adipose and muscle cell differentiation. He published seminal paper showing the role of PPAR delta in the controls of muscle development and oxidative capability. In 2003 he joined the laboratory of Pr Richard Palmiter (Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Department of Biochemistry) at the University of Washington, Seattle for his post-doctoral training. He studied the role of hypothalamic neurons that produce Agouti related protein in the control of feeding behavior. He was recruited at researcher by the French CNRS in 2006 and was awarded a young investigator research program that led him to conduct an independent research. His group is established at the University Paris Cité. The core approach of his team (https://bfa.u-paris.fr/equipe-5/) is to leverage the power of modern molecular genetic tools and mouse models using integrated approaches in order to dissect out the role of discrete neural circuit elements in the control of different aspect of energy balance including feeding behavior & energy expenditure.