Girardet Clemence

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Sorbonne University

The neural functions of adropin, a secreted peptide highly expressed in the brain, have not been investigated. In humans, adropin is highly expressed in astrocytes and peaks during critical postnatal periods of brain development. Gene enrichment analysis of transcripts correlating with adropin expression suggests processes relevant to aging-related...

Adropin is most abundant in neural tissues yet its neurological functions are unclear. Data from post-mortem human brain tissue samples indicates adropin expression occurs predominantly in astrocytes, peaks during critical post-natal periods of brain development, and then declines with aging. Previous experiments indicate adropin regulates mitochon...

The neural functions of adropin, a secreted peptide highly expressed in the brain, have not been investigated. In humans, adropin is highly expressed in astrocytes and peaks during critical postnatal periods of brain development. Gene enrichment analysis of transcripts correlating with adropin expression suggests processes relevance to aging-relate...

Introduction: Individuals born with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) are more prone to cardio-metabolic diseases as adults. The prevalence of IUGR (5 to 7% of births in developed countries) may herald a worsening of the current worldwide epidemic of obesity and related comorbidities. Methods: We used a preclinical mouse model of induced IU...

The micropeptide adropin encoded by the clock-controlled Energy homeostasis-associated gene is implicated in the regulation of glucose metabolism. However, its links to rhythms of nutrient intake, energy balance and metabolic control remains poorly defined. Using surveys of Gene Expression Omnibus datasets, we confirm that fasting suppresses liver...

Objective Activation of hypothalamic agouti‐related peptide expressing (AgRP)+ve neurons during energy deficit is a negative valence signal, rapidly activating food‐seeking behaviors. This study examined the roles of melanocortin‐3 receptors (MC3Rs) coexpressed in a subpopulation of AgRP+ve neurons. Methods AgRP‐MC3R mice expressing MC3Rs selectiv...

Intraperitoneal administration of the melanocortin agonist melanotan II (MTII) to mice causes a profound, transient hypometabolism/hypothermia. It is preserved in mice lacking any one of melanocortin receptors 1, 3, 4, or 5, suggesting a mechanism independent of the canonical melanocortin receptors. Here we show that MTII-induced hypothermia was ab...

Objective Identify determinants of plasma adropin concentrations, a secreted peptide translated from the Energy Homeostasis Associated (ENHO) gene linked to metabolic control and vascular function. Methods Associations between plasma adropin concentrations, demographics (sex, age, BMI) and circulating biomarkers of lipid and glucose metabolism wer...

Endozepines are endogenous ligands for the benzodiazepine receptors and also target a still unidentified GPCR. The endozepine octadecaneuropeptide (ODN), an endoproteolytic processing product of the diazepam-binding inhibitor (DBI) was recently shown to be involved in food intake control as an anorexigenic factor through ODN-GPCR signaling and mobi...

Melanocortin neurons conserve body mass in hyper- or hypo-caloric conditions by conveying signals from nutrient sensors into areas of the brain governing appetite and metabolism. In mice, melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) deletion alters nutrient partitioning independently of hyperphagia, promoting accumulation of fat over muscle mass. Enhanced rhythm...

Melanocortin-3 receptors (MC3R) have a contextual role in appetite control that is amplified with hypocaloric conditioning. C57BL/6J (B6) mice subjected to hypocaloric feeding schedules (HFS) exhibit compulsive behavioral responses involving food anticipatory activity (FAA) and caloric loading following food access. These homeostatic responses to c...

Objective: Appetitive responses to weight loss are mediated by a nutrient-sensing neural network comprised of melanocortin neurons. The role of neural melanocortin-3 receptors (MC3R) in mediating these responses is enigmatic. Mc3r knockout mice exhibit a paradoxical phenotype of obesity and reduced feeding-related behaviors in situations of nutrien...

The ClockΔ19 mutation was produced during an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea mutagenesis screening project; homozygous carriers of the mutation were identified by their inability to maintain a circadian rhythm in wheel-running behavior when housed in constant dark (2–4). These mice exhibited normal diurnal rhythms in a light-dark setting, suggesting that the...

The circadian timing system orchestrates daily variations in physiology and behavior through coordination of multioscillatory cell networks that are highly plastic in responding to environmental changes. Over the last decade, it has become clear that this plasticity involves structural changes and that the changes may be observed not only in centra...

The stomach hormone ghrelin and hypothalamic melanocortin neurons belong to a gut-brain circuit controlling appetite and metabolic homeostasis. Mice lacking melanocortin-3 receptor (Mc3rKO) or ghrelin receptor genes (GhsrKO) exhibit attenuated food anticipatory activity (FAA), a rise in locomotor activity anticipating mealtime, suggesting common ci...

The central nervous melanocortin system maintains body mass and adiposity within a ‘healthy’ range by regulating satiety and metabolic homeostasis. Neural melanocortin-4 receptors (MC4R) modulate satiety signals and regulate autonomic outputs governing glucose and lipid metabolism in the periphery. The functions of melanocortin-3 receptors (MC3R) h...

The melanocortin system regulates metabolic homeostasis and inflammation. Melanocortin agonists have contradictorily been reported to both increase and decrease metabolic rate and body temperature. We find two distinct physiologic responses occurring at similar doses. Intraperitoneal administration of the nonselective melanocortin agonist MTII caus...

Synchronization of circadian rhythms to the 24-h light/dark (L/D) cycle is associated with daily rearrangements of the neuronal-glial network of the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN), the central master clock orchestrating biological functions in mammals. These anatomical plastic events involve neurons synthesizing vasoactive intest...

Obesity is a global health issue, as it is associated with increased risk of developing chronic conditions associated with disorders of metabolism such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A better understanding of how excessive fat accumulation develops and causes diseases of the metabolic syndrome is urgently needed. The hypothalamic me...

Attenuated activity of the central nervous melanocortin system causes obesity and insulin resistance. Obese rodents treated with melanocortins exhibit improvements in obesity and metabolic homeostasis that are not mutually dependent, suggesting metabolic actions that are independent of weight changes. These responses are generally thought to involv...

Physiological regulations of energy balance and body weight imply highly adaptive mechanisms which match caloric intake to caloric expenditure. In the central nervous system, the regulation of appetite relies on complex neurocircuitry which disturbance may alter energy balance and result in anorexia or obesity. Deoxynivalenol (DON), a trichothecene...

Deoxynivalenol (DON), one of the most abundant trichothecenes found on cereals, has been implicated in mycotoxicoses in both humans and farm animals. Low-dose toxicity is characterized by reduced weight gain, diminished nutritional efficiency, and immunologic effects. The levels and patterns of human food commodity contamination justify that DON co...

Accumulating evidence renders the dogma obsolete according to which the structural organization of the brain would remain essentially stable in adulthood, changing only in response to a need for compensatory processes during increasing age and degeneration. It has indeed become clear from investigations on various models that the adult nervous syst...

Rhythmic biological functions in mammals are orchestrated by a circadian timekeeper in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN) which precisely adjusts clock outputs to solar time through the process of photic synchronization. Entrainment to the 24-h light-dark cycle is known to act on the molecular loops which trigger circadian oscill...

The daily temporal organization of rhythmic functions in mammals, which requires synchronization of the circadian clock to the 24-h light-dark cycle, is believed to involve adjustments of the mutual phasing of the cellular oscillators that comprise the time-keeper within the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN). Following from a previo...

The mammalian circadian clock, whose central component is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN), orchestrates rhythmic events in metabolism, physiology and behavior. Adaptation of the organism to its environment requires precise adjustment of the clock to the 24 h astronomical time, primarily by the light/dark cycle. Phot...

The mammalian circadian clock, whose central component is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN), orchestrates rhythmic events in metabolism, physiology and behavior. Adaptation of the organism to its environment requires precise adjustment of the clock to the 24 h astronomical time, primarily by the light/dark cycle. Phot...

Circadian rhythms in mammals are synchronized to the light (L)/dark (D) cycle through messages relaying in the master clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus (SCN). Here, we provide evidence that the SCN undergoes rhythmic ultrastructural rearrangements over the 24-h cycle characterized by day/night changes of the glial, axon termina...