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Interactions between the northern environment and chronobiotics: Impact on cardiometabolic and neurometabolic health


Principal Investigators

Alexandre Caron (Pharmacy), Andréanne Michaud (Nutrition)
 

Co-Investigators

Olivier Barbier (Pharmacy), Yves Desjardins (Phytologie), André Marette (Médecine), Frédéric Picard (Pharmacy), Denis Richard (Medicine)
 

Collaborators

Gerard Aragonès (Universitat Rovira i Virgili), Étienne Challet (Centre national de la recherche scientifique-France), Luigia Cristino (National Research Council (Italy)), Stéphanie Dudonné (Université Laval), Nicolas Flamand (Université Laval), Richard Kinkead (Université Laval), Natalie Michael (Université Laval), Christophe Ribelayga (University of Texas Health Science Center), Carole Rovère (CNRS-France), Cristoforo Silvestri (Université Laval), Valérie Simonneaux (CNRS-France)
 

Partners

Sable Systems International, ULaval Research Chair in Obesity, Québec Heart and Lung Institute Research Centre
 

Abstract

The Arctic and subarctic zones are characterized by extreme seasonal changes in light and temperatures, which have profound bearing on biological circadian rhythms. Under foreign cultural pressures and after adopting a sedentary lifestyle, Arctic indigenous peoples have experienced drastic modifications of their diet over the last few decades. Traditionally shaped by a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, the traditional Inuit diet has gradually westernized. The reliance for most of the year on imported western-type food has increased food insecurity and the burden of modern chronic societal diseases. Western diet (WD) is well known to damage the circadian clock machinery, leading to circadian disruption and the development of many metabolic disturbances. Therefore, one could easily foresee that the combination of WD with the seasonal fluctuations of the Nordic environment would result in dreadful outcomes on key biological processes. This includes the neurometabolic circuits involved in energy and glucose homeostasis, the gut microbiota, and the central and peripheral endocrine and metabolic clocks.

Therefore, we hypothesize that chronobiotics (molecules which can cause phase adjustment of the body clocks) may help improve metabolic health by re-synchronizing these central and peripheral clocks. Arctic berry polyphenols (ABPs) are such chronobiotic molecules that may improve melatonin production and resynchronize circadian clock oscillation and synchrony. We propose to use various innovative models, including a unique melatonin-proficient B6 congenic mouse model raised under circadian-disrupting conditions leading to cardiometabolic/neurobehavioral impairments. We also propose mouse and human studies aimed at evaluating the potential of ABPs to improve cardiometabolic/neurobehavioral health. We predict that the capacity of ABPs to restore an altered metabolic profile stems from their ability to resynchronize the central, peripheral and microbial circadian rhythms. Our data are expected to contribute to the development of strategies to counteract the deleterious effects of diet westernization on the health of Arctic populations.