{"id":4055,"date":"2014-11-17T16:26:55","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T21:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/research\/professors\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T12:32:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T17:32:00","slug":"alquier-thierry-ph-d","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/","title":{"rendered":"Alquier, Thierry, Ph.D."},"content":{"rendered":"

Coordonn\u00e9es<\/h3>\n

CRCHUM et Centre de Recherche sur le Diab\u00e8te de Montr\u00e9al
\nBureau R08.418
\n900 rue St-Denis
\nMontreal QC H2X0A9
\nT<\/strong> 514 890-8000\u00a0 poste 23628<\/p>\n

thierry.alquier@umontreal.ca<\/a><\/p>\n\n

\n

Axes de recherche<\/h2>\n
    \n
  • Endocrinologie<\/li>\n
  • Neurobiologie<\/li>\n
  • Syst\u00e8mes mod\u00e8les en biologie mol\u00e9culaire<\/li>\n
  • Signalisation intracellulaire<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Description de la recherche<\/h2>\n

    Le d\u00e9s\u00e9quilibre de la balance \u00e9nerg\u00e9tique constitue la cause principale du d\u00e9veloppement de l’ob\u00e9sit\u00e9 et de ses complications incluant le diab\u00e8te de type 2. Le maintien de cet \u00e9quilibre est en grand partie assur\u00e9 par le syst\u00e8me nerveux central au sein duquel l’hypothalamus joue un r\u00f4le majeur dans le contr\u00f4le des apports et d\u00e9penses \u00e9nerg\u00e9tiques ainsi que l’hom\u00e9ostasie glucidique.\u00a0 Ce contr\u00f4le repose sur des populations de neurones dans l\u2019hypothalamus qui ont la capacit\u00e9 de d\u00e9tecter les signaux hormonaux et m\u00e9taboliques \u00a0circulants tels que le glucose\u00a0 et les acides gras. Notre laboratoire cherche \u00e0 d\u00e9terminer et caract\u00e9riser les m\u00e9canismes biochimiques, mol\u00e9culaires et cellulaires impliqu\u00e9s dans la d\u00e9tection des signaux nutritionnels dans les cellules de l’hypothalamus et comment en retour, ces signaux permettent de contr\u00f4ler les apports et d\u00e9penses \u00e9nerg\u00e9tiques ainsi que l’hom\u00e9ostasie du glucose. Nous \u00e9tudions plus particuli\u00e8rement le cross-talk entre les cellules gliales et les neurones de l’hypothalamus dans la d\u00e9tection et les effets des acides gras dans le cerveau sur la balance \u00e9nerg\u00e9tique et la r\u00e9gulation de la glyc\u00e9mie. Notre but principal est de comprendre comment l’exc\u00e8s nutritionnel en graisses affecte ce dialogue dans l’hypothalamus et conduit au d\u00e9veloppement de l’ob\u00e9sit\u00e9 mais aussi du diab\u00e8te en affectant le contr\u00f4le nerveux de la s\u00e9cr\u00e9tion d’insuline par le pancr\u00e9as. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, nous utilisons des mod\u00e8les compl\u00e9mentaires in vitro (culture de neurones et astrocytes), ex vivo (explants de cerveau) et in vivo (mod\u00e8le animaux d’invalidation g\u00e9n\u00e9tique sp\u00e9cifiquement dans le cerveau) coupl\u00e9s \u00e0 des approches transcritomiques et \u00a0lipidomiques ainsi que des techniques de ph\u00e9notypage m\u00e9tabolique de pointe.\u00a0 Nos principales cibles d’int\u00e9r\u00eat\u00a0 sont des enzymes qui contr\u00f4lent le m\u00e9tabolisme intracellulaire des acides gras ainsi que des r\u00e9cepteurs membranaires aux acides gras qui pr\u00e9sentent un potentiel th\u00e9rapeutique. \u00a0De plus, nous collaborons avec d’autres chercheurs afin de d\u00e9terminer l’importance de ces cibles 1-dans des r\u00e9gions c\u00e9r\u00e9brales non hypothalamiques impliqu\u00e9es dans la balance \u00e9nerg\u00e9tique (circuit neuronaux de la r\u00e9compense) et 2-dans certaines pathologies neurod\u00e9g\u00e9n\u00e9ratives associ\u00e9es au diab\u00e8te telles que l’Alzheimer et la r\u00e9tinopathie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    \n

    Research axis<\/h2>\n
      \n
    • Endocrinology<\/li>\n
    • Neurobiology<\/li>\n
    • Model systems in molecular biology<\/li>\n
    • Intracellular signaling<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Research description<\/h2>\n

      An improper balance between energy intake and expenditure is the main cause of obesity and associated complications including type 2 diabetes. The maintenance of this balance is in large part provided by the central nervous system in which the hypothalamus plays a major role in the control of energy intake and expenditure as well as glucose homeostasis. This control relies on populations of neurons in the hypothalamus that have the ability to detect circulating hormonal and metabolic signals such as glucose and fatty acids. Our laboratory seeks to identify and characterize the biochemical, molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in the detection of nutritional signals in cells of the hypothalamus and how in turn these signals control calories intake, energy expenditure and glucose homeostasis . We are particularly interested in the cross-talk between glial cells and neurons of the hypothalamus in the detection and effects of fatty acids in the brain on energy balance and glycemic control. Our main goal is to understand how fat nutritional excess affects this dialogue in the hypothalamus and leads to the development of obesity and also diabetes by affecting the nervous control of insulin secretion by the pancreas. To achieve these goals, we work with complementary models in vitro (culture of neurons and astrocytes), ex vivo (brain explants) and in vivo (brain specific gene knock-out animal models) coupled to transcriptomics and lipidomics approaches as well as state-of-the-art metabolic phenotyping techniques in vivo. Our main targets of interest are enzymes regulating intracellular fatty acid metabolism and fatty acid membrane receptors which have a therapeutic potential. In addition, we are collaborating with other researchers to determine the importance of these targets 1-in non hypothalamic brain areas involved in energy balance (reward neuronal circuitry) and 2-in neurodegenerative diseases associated with diabetes including Alzheimer and retinopathy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

      Publications<\/h3>\n
        \n
      • <\/b>Bouyakdan K., Taib B., Budry L., <\/b>Zhao S., Rodaros D., Neess D., Mandrup S., Faergeman N., Alquier T<\/b>. <\/b>A novel role for central ACBP\/DBI as a regulator of long-chain fatty acid metabolism in astrocytes. (En r\u00e9vision)<\/li>\n
      • Pepin E., Higa A., Shuster-Klein C., Bernard C., Sulpice T., Guardiola B., Chevet E.,\u00a0 Alquier T.<\/b> Deletion of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) protects pancreatic beta-cells from stress-induced death but not from glucose homeostasis alterations under pro-inflammatory conditions. Plos One. 9(11):e112714, 2014.<\/li>\n
      • Fergusson G., Ethier M., Guevremont M., Chretien C., Attan\u00e9 C., Joly E., Fioramonti X., Prentki M., Poitout V., Alquier T.<\/b> Defective insulin secretory response to intravenous glucose in C57Bl\/6J compared to C57Bl\/6N mice. Molecular Metabolism. In press 10.1016\/j.molmet.2014.09.006, 2014.<\/i><\/li>\n
      • <\/b>Taib B., Bouyakdan K., Hryhorczuk C., Rodaros D., Fulton S. and Alquier T.<\/b> Glucose regulates hypothalamic long-chain fatty acid metabolism via AMP-activated Kinase (AMPK) in neurons and astrocytes. Journal of Biological Chemistry. 288(52):37216-29, <\/i>2013<\/li>\n
      • Honore J.C., Kooli A. , Hamel D., Alquier T.<\/b> , Rivera J.C., Quiniou C. , Hou X. , Kermorvant-Duchemin E., Joyal J.S., Hardy P. , Poitout V., Chemtob S. Fatty acid receptor GPR40 mediates neuromicrovascular degeneration induced by transarachidonic acids in rodents. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis & Vascular Biology. 33(5): 954-61, 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Coordonn\u00e9es CRCHUM et Centre de Recherche sur le Diab\u00e8te de Montr\u00e9al Bureau R08.418 900 rue St-Denis Montreal QC H2X0A9 T 514 890-8000\u00a0 poste 23628 thierry.alquier@umontreal.ca Publications Bouyakdan K., Taib B., […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":3557,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4055","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAlquier, Thierry, Ph.D. - Programmes de biologie mol\u00e9culaire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alquier, Thierry, Ph.D. - Programmes de biologie mol\u00e9culaire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Coordonn\u00e9es CRCHUM et Centre de Recherche sur le Diab\u00e8te de Montr\u00e9al Bureau R08.418 900 rue St-Denis Montreal QC H2X0A9 T 514 890-8000\u00a0 poste 23628 thierry.alquier@umontreal.ca Publications Bouyakdan K., Taib B., […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Programmes de biologie mol\u00e9culaire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-01T17:32:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/biomol.umontreal.ca\/en\/research\/les-professeurs\/alquier-thierry-ph-d\/\",\"name\":\"Alquier, Thierry, Ph.D. - 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