Catherine Mounier

Catherine Mounier
University of Quebec in Montreal | UQAM · Department of Biological Sciences

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90
Publications
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Publications

Publications (90)
Preprint
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Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogenous disorder characterized by reproductive and metabolic abnormalities. PCOS etiology remains poorly understood, although the hypothalamus is suspected to play a central role in many cases. Human genetic studies have also shown an association with the transcription factor-coding gene GATA4, but without...
Article
Breast cancer, particularly triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), poses a global health challenge. Emerging evidence has established a positive association between elevated levels of stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) and its product oleate (OA) with cancer development and metas-tasis. SCD1/OA leads to alterations in migration speed, direction, and c...
Article
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Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease. Ketogenic diet (KD), a diet with very low intake in carbohydrates, gained popularity as a weight-loss approach. However, in mice models, it has been reported that an excess exposition of dietary fat induces hepatic insulin resistance and steatosis...
Article
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Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) have been the subject of extensive research in the field of cancer due to their potential role in its prevention and treatment. MUFAs can be consumed through the diet or endogenously biosynthesized. Stearoyl-CoA desaturases (SCDs) are key enzymes involved in the endogenous synthesis of MUFAs, and their expression...
Article
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Apolipoprotein D (ApoD) is lipocalin able to bind hydrophobic ligands. The APOD gene is upregulated in a number of pathologies, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, and hypothyroidism. Upregulation of ApoD is linked to decreased oxidative stress and inflammation in several models, including humans, mice, Drosophila melanogast...
Article
Introduction: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are lipid bilayer-made particles shed by cells to the extracellular space. They carry different cargo proteins, nucleic acids, and other metabolites. EVs play a role in disseminating cancer to distant organs by communicating with the tumor microenvironment to prepare the metastatic niche and also through h...
Article
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Due to their endocrine disruption properties, phthalate plasticizers such as di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) can affect the hormone-dependent development of the mammary gland. Over the past few years, DEHP has been partially replaced by 1,2-cyclohexane dicarboxylic acid diisononyl ester (DINCH) which also have potential endocrine disrupting prope...
Article
Introduction: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a crucial role in disseminating cancer to distant organs, communicating with the tumor microenvironment to prepare the metastatic niche, and through horizontal transfer of oncogenic traits to recipient cells. EV parameters influencing cellular uptake include surface proteins, lipid profile, and physic...
Article
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The defining features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) include alterations in protein aggregation, immunity, lipid metabolism, synapses, and learning and memory. Of these, lipid abnormalities are the least understood. Here, we investigate the role of Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), a crucial regulator of fatty acid desaturation, in AD pathogenesis. We sh...
Article
Although severe obesity is associated with insulin resistance (IR) and inflammation, secretory function of intra-abdominal adipose tissues and their relationships with IR and inflammation markers remain poorly understood. Aims were to measure gene expression of adipogenic (C/EBPα/β, PPARγ-1/2, SREBP-1c, LXRα), lipogenic (SCD1, DGAT-1/2), angiogenic...
Article
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Apolipoprotein D (ApoD) is a secreted lipocalin associated with neuroprotection and lipid metabolism. In rodent, the bulk of its expression occurs in the central nervous system. Despite this, ApoD has profound effects in peripheral tissues, indicating that neural ApoD may reach peripheral organs. We endeavor to determine if cerebral ApoD can reach...
Article
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Obesity is an important aspect of the metabolic syndrome and is often associated with chronic inflammation. In this context, inflammation of organs participating in energy homeostasis (such as liver, adipose tissue, muscle and pancreas) leads to the recruitment and activation of macrophages, which secrete pro-inflammatory cytokines. Interleukin-1β...
Article
Liposomes are versatile particles used in the biomedical field as drug delivery systems (DDS). Liposome production using micromixers have shown to yield nanoparticles for DDS in a single step with a controllable size by changing flow conditions. Nonetheless, other factors such as the organic solvent, play a crucial role in the liposome formation pr...
Article
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ApoD is a 25 to 30 kDa glycosylated protein, member of the lipocalin superfamily. As a transporter of several small hydrophobic molecules, its known biological functions are mostly associated to lipid metabolism and neuroprotection. ApoD is a multi-ligand, multi-function protein that is involved lipid trafficking, food intake, inflammation, antioxi...
Article
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Liposomes nanoparticles (LNPs) are vesicles that encapsulate drugs, genes, and imaging labels for advanced delivery applications. Control and tuning liposome physicochemical characteristics such as size, size distribution, and zeta potential are crucial for their functionality. Liposome production using micromixers has shown better control over lip...
Article
Full-text available
Background Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Despite high survival rates in Western countries, treatments are less effective in metastatic cases and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patient survival is the shortest across breast cancer subtypes. High expression levels of stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) have been reported in bre...
Chapter
The causes of the obesity crisis and its comorbidities have been at the center of intensive research for decades. Throughout this time, numerous mechanisms have been found to cause or modulate the progression of these pathologies. Together, they paint a complex web of interactors in which low grade chronical inflammation takes center stage. The inh...
Article
Obesity, liver steatosis and type 2 diabetes are major diseases partly imputed to energy-dense diets rich in long chain triglycerides (LCT). The search for bioactive nutrients that help to overcome metabolic diseases is a growing field. In this regard, medium chain triglycerides (MCT) were shown to promote lipid catabolism and to stimulate brown ad...
Conference Paper
Liposomes’ size determines where liposomes accumulate in the human body. Thus, liposome size control is important for biomedical applications. Using a screening assay, we identified the most important variables that modulate liposome size for liposomes produced in Dean Forces-based µmixers. The studied variables were Flow Rate Ratio (FRR) between t...
Conference Paper
Liposomes' size determines where liposomes accumulate in the human body. Consequently, liposome size control is important for biomedical applications. Using a screening assay, we identified the most important variables that modulate liposome size, with liposomes produced in Dean Forces-based µmixers. These factors are the Flow Rate Ratio (FRR), tem...
Conference Paper
Liposomes' size determines where liposomes accumulate in the human body. Consequently, liposome size control is important for biomedical applications. Using a screening assay, we identified the most important variables that modulate liposome size, with liposomes produced in Dean Forces-based µmixers. These factors are the Flow Rate Ratio (FRR), tem...
Article
Apolipoprotein D (ApoD) is a secreted lipocalin associated with neuroprotection and lipid metabolism. Overexpression of ApoD in mouse neural tissue induces the development of a non-inflammatory hepatic steatosis in 12-month-old transgenic animals. Previous data indicates that accumulation of arachidonic acid, ApoD's preferential ligand, and overact...
Article
Full-text available
Metabolic illnesses such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are in constant increase worldwide. Highly consumed long chain fatty acids (LCFA) are among the most obesogenic and steatogenic nutrients. Hepatic steatosis is associated with several complications such as insulin resistance. Growing evidence points to medium chain fatty acids (M...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose: Apolipoprotein D (ApoD) is a lipocalin participating in lipid transport. It binds to a variety of ligands, with a higher affinity for arachidonic acid, and is thought to have a diverse array of functions. We investigated a potential role for ApoD in insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and thrombosis-processes related to lipid metabolism-in...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Context: Long chain fatty acids (LCFA) such as palmitate (C16) are potent contributors to obesity, fatty liver disease and insulin resistance (IR). Inversely, growing evidence suggests that medium chain fatty acids (MCFA), namely hexanoate (C6), octanoate (C8) and decanoate (C10), can improve metabolic health. Indeed, we recently reported (APNM, vo...
Article
Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) is a key player in lipid metabolism. SCD1 catalyzes the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). MUFA are then incorporated into triacylglycerols and phospholipids. Previous studies have shown that Scd1 deficiency in mice induces metabolic changes in the liver characterized by a decrease in de novo lipogenes...
Article
White adipose tissue (WAT) has a critical role in lipid handling. Previous work demonstrated that SCD1 is an important regulator of WAT fatty acid (FA) composition; however, its influence on the various interconnected pathways influencing WAT lipid handling remains unclear. Our objective was to investigate the role of SCD1 on WAT lipid handling usi...
Article
Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy (BSCL) is an autosomal recessive disorder. The more severe form, designated BSCL2, arises due to mutations in the BSCL2 gene. Patients with BSCL2, as well as Bscl2 (-/-) mice, have a near total absence of body fat, an organomegaly, and develop metabolic disorders including insulin resistance and hepatic st...
Article
Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is a delta-9 fatty acid desaturase that catalyzes the synthesis of mono-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). SCD1 is a critical control point regulating hepatic lipid synthesis and β-oxidation. Scd1 KO mice are resistant to the development of diet-induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Using a chronic-binge p...
Article
Full-text available
Obesity and associated metabolic complications, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D), are in constant increase around the world. While most obese patients show several metabolic and biometric abnormalities and comorbidities, a subgroup of patients representing 3% to 57% of obese adults, depending on the diagno...
Chapter
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinico-pathological change characterized by the accumulation of triacylglycerol (TG) in hepatic lipid droplets (LD). NAFLD can range from a simple steatosis to Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) characterized by hepatic injury, inflammation, and eventually fibrosis. NAFLD can also be associated with...
Article
Full-text available
Transgenic mice (Tg) overexpressing human apolipoprotein D (H-apoD) in the brain are resistant to neurodegeneration. Despite the use of a neuron-specific promoter to generate the Tg mice, they expressed significant levels of H-apoD in both plasma and liver and they slowly develop hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. We show here that hepatic P...
Article
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In normal tissues, energy-providing lipids come principally from circulating lipids. However, in growing tumors, energy supply is mainly provided by lipids coming from de novo synthesis. It is not surprising to see elevated expression of several lipogenic genes in tumors from different origins. The role of lipogenic genes in the establishment of th...
Article
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Inhibition of soluble matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity is among the non-antibiotic cellular effects exerted by the anti-inflammatory tetracycline derivative minocycline. The impact of minocycline on the signal transduction functions of membrane-bound MMPs is however unknown. We assessed minocycline in a concanavalin-A (ConA)-activated human...
Article
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Aims/hypothesis: Mutations in BSCL2/seipin cause Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy (BSCL), a rare recessive disorder characterised by near absence of adipose tissue and severe insulin resistance. We aimed to determine how seipin deficiency alters glucose and lipid homeostasis and whether thiazolidinediones can rescue the phenotype. Metho...
Article
Background SCD1 is a lipogenic enzyme responsible for the formation of monounsaturated fatty acids, the main precursors of triglycerides. High SCD1 expression is associated with expansion of adipose tissue and ectopic fat accumulation (in various tissues). Seipin is the human Berardinelli‐Seip congenital lipodystrophy 2 gene product which regulates...
Article
Diabetes is a global epidemic that affects about 285 million people worldwide. For severely-ill patients with type I diabetes, whole pancreas or islet transplantation is the only therapeutic option. Islet transplantation is hindered by the scarce supply of fresh functional islets and limitations in cryopreservation procedures. Thus, improved cryopr...
Article
Full-text available
Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase-1 (SCD1) is an ER anchored enzyme catalysing the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) mainly palmytoleyl- and oleyl-CoA. Recent studies have revealed a function for SCD1 in the modulation of signaling processes related to cell proliferation, survival and transformation to cancer. We used MCF7 and MDA-MB-231 cells...
Article
Introduction La lipodystrophie congénitale généralisée de Berardinelli-Seip (BSCL) est caractérisée par une absence de tissu adipeux et une insulino-résistance sévère. Elle est souvent liée à l’altération bi-allélique de BSCL2 codant la seipine de fonction encore inconnue. Matériels et méthodes Nous avons caractérisé le phénotype métabolique des s...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: Subcutaneous (SC) adipose tissue stearic acid (18:0) content and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1)-mediated production of oleic acid (18:1) have been suggested to be altered in obesity. The objective of our study was to examine abdominal adipose tissue fatty acid content and SCD1 mRNA/protein level in women. Subjects and methods: Fatty a...
Article
Full-text available
Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase 1 (SCD1) is the rate limiting enzyme catalyzing the biosynthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids preferentially from palmitoyl-CoA and stearoyl-CoA forming respectively palmitoleyl-CoA and oleyl-CoA. These monounsaturated fatty acids are the key components of triglycerides and membrane phospholipids. Studying the regulation o...
Article
Full-text available
Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is responsible for the de novo synthesis of palmitate and stearate. This enzyme is activated by insulin and T(3), and inhibited by fatty acids. In this study, we show that insulin and T(3) have an inducing effect on FAS enzymatic activity, which is synergetic when both hormones are present. Octanoate and hexanoate specific...
Article
Stearoyl-CoA Desaturase-1 (SCD1) is the rate limiting enzyme catalyzing the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids. Variation of SCD1 activity and the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids have been implicated in a variety of diseases including obesity, type II diabetes and cancers. In liver, many factors regulate SCD1 expression includin...
Article
Apolipoprotein D (apoD), a widely expressed lipocalin, has the capacity to transport small hydrophobic molecules. Although it has been proposed that apoD may have multiple tissue-specific, physiological ligands and functions, these have yet to be identified. To gain insight in some of its functions, we generated transgenic mice overexpressing human...
Article
In humans, the placenta that forms by an implantation process in the maternal uterus allows the development of the embryo and the fetus by exchanging ions, metabolites, and wastes and by producing specific hormones (steroids and proteins) with the levels of secretion often surpassing the levels of other endocrine organs. The process of placental de...
Article
Full-text available
Fatty acid synthase (FAS) is a key enzyme of hepatic lipogenesis responsible for the synthesis of long-chain saturated fatty acids. This enzyme is mainly regulated at the transcriptional level by nutrients and hormones. In particular, glucose, insulin, and T(3) increase FAS activity, whereas glucagon and saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids de...
Article
Maternal hypercholesterolemia (HC) during pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are associated with disturbance of fetal development which may also modify key features of placental functions. In this study, we evaluated the impact of maternal hypercholesterolemia on placental cholesterol and lipid metabolism in 59 women classified in tw...
Article
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The stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) catalyzes the synthesis of monounsaturated fatty acids. This enzyme is a critical control point regulating hepatic lipogenesis and lipid oxidation. Therefore SCD1 may be a potential therapeutic target in the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Regulation of SCD1 expression occurs primarily at the level...
Article
Pregnancy is associated with hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia in humans. These changes take place to support fetal growth and development, and modifications of these maternal concentrations may influence lipids and cholesterol synthesis in the dam, fetus and placenta. Administration of a 0.2% enriched cholesterol diet (ECD) during rabbit ges...
Article
Maternal hyperlipidemia is a characteristic feature during pregnancy, it has been reported that modification of the maternal lipid profile can induce disturbance during pregnancy. In this study, we evaluated the impact of maternal lipid profile on the placental protein expression of two major receptors in cholesterol metabolism, the low density lip...
Article
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This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of aqueous extracts from leaves of Ageratum conyzoides (300mg/kg) on blood glucose in normoglycemic and streptozotocin-diabetic rats. The extract was administered orally and the blood glucose level was measured hourly for 4h. The hypoglycaemic activity was evaluated by comparing with the initial b...
Article
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Insulin, after binding to its receptor, regulates many cellular processes and the expression of several genes. For a subset of genes, insulin exerts a negative effect on transcription for others, the effect is positive. Insulin controls gene transcription by modifying the binding of transcription factors on insulin-response elements or by regulatin...
Article
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The expression of IGF-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) is induced in rat liver by dexamethasone and glucagon and is completely inhibited by 100 nM insulin. Various studies have implicated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, protein kinase B (Akt), phosphorylation of the transcription factors forkhead in rhabdomyosarcoma 1 (Foxo1)/Foxo3, and the mammalian tar...
Chapter
T his article provides an overview of peptide and growth factor action. It approaches the subject in a historical context and summarizes the understanding of the early events in signaling-particularly the events following hormone or growth factor binding to its cognate receptor, the internalization of these complexes, and the consequences of these...
Article
Alternative HPLC and solid-phase extraction column methods were developed to separate metabolites of enzymes involved in cholesterol metabolism in rabbit liver microsomes: hydroxyl-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, cholesterol-7alpha-hydroxylase and acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase. A comparison method of thin-layer chromatography and solid-phase e...
Article
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Compartmentalization of signaling molecules may explain, at least in part, how insulin or growth factors achieve specificity. Caveolae/rafts are specialized lipid compartments that have been implicated in insulin signaling. In the present study, we investigated the role of caveolin-enriched membrane domains (CMD) in mediating insulin signaling in r...
Article
During pregnancy, the calcium (Ca(2+)) transport machinery of the placenta is solely responsible for the nutrient supply to the developing fetus, where active Ca(2+) transport occurs from the mother to the fetus. As part of a larger study to determine the role of Ca(2+) in placental transport in vivo, we questioned whether calbindin-D9k (CaBP9k), w...
Conference Paper
Information systems supporting the protein discovery process encompass three worlds to model: the world of laboratory experiments, the world of special public libraries, and the world of applicable theories and methods for the derivation, validation and verification of the resulting protein set. In this paper we describe the motivation, the design...
Article
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Calbindin-D28k (CaBP28k) belongs to a large class of eucaryotic proteins that bind calcium (Ca2+) to a specific helix-loop-helix structure. To date, this protein was mainly linked to brain, kidneys, and pancreas. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the existence of CaBP8k in the human placental trophoblasts of the human term placenta. Placental...
Article
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In primary rat hepatocyte cultures, activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase is both necessary and sufficient to account for epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced DNA synthesis. In these cells, three major p85-containing complexes were formed after EGF treatment: ErbB3-p85, Shc-p85, and a multimeric Gab2-Grb2-SHP2-p85, which accounted for more t...
Article
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We have previously demonstrated that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) is necessary and sufficient to account for epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced mitogenesis in rat primary hepatocytes. A cytosolic Gab2-containing complex accounts for >80% of the total EGF-induced PI3-kinase activity (Kong, M., Mounier, C., Wu, J., and Posner, B. I....
Article
Full-text available
We have previously demonstrated that phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) is necessary and sufficient to account for epidermal growth factor (EGF)-induced mitogenesis in rat primary hepatocytes. A cytosolic Gab2-containing complex accounts for >80% of the total EGF-induced PI3-kinase activity (Kong, M., Mounier, C., Wu, J., and Posner, B. I....
Article
Grb10 is a member of a family of adapter proteins that binds to tyrosine-phosphorylated receptors including the insulin receptor kinase (IRK). In this study recombinant adenovirus was used to over-express hGrb10ζ, a new Grb10 isoform, in primary rat hepatocytes and the consequences for insulin signaling were evaluated. Over-expression of hGrb10ζ re...
Article
Hypertension and abnormal plasma lipids are cardiovascular risk factors often associated with type 2 diabetes. The management of cardiovascular risk in diabetic patients requires not only intensive glycemic control but also better management of these cardiovascular risk factors. Recent trials including diabetic patients confirmed the necessity of t...