Dr. Vincent Prévot, Ph.D

vincent.prevot@inserm.fr

Lab Director
Lead researcher and head of the laboratory

Director of the Development & Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain team, INSERM U1172
Co-Director International Associated Laboratory NEUROBESE (INSERM U1172, University of Lille 2, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, University of Southern California
Ph.D in Neuroscience, University of Lille, France, 1999
M.S. in Animal Physiology, University of Paris XI, Orsay, France. 1994
B.Sc. in Biochemistry, University of Paris XI, Orsay, France

Send message

Career

Our research primarily focuses on the Central Control of Energy Homeostasis and the Neurobiology of Reproduction. Among our recent pioneering studies, we demonstrated that GnRH, the neurohormone controlling reproduction, plays a role in sensory perception and cognition. Furthermore, we discovered that tanycytes, specialized ependymoglial cells lining the floor of the third ventricle, are responsible for transporting peripheral metabolic signals such as leptin across brain barriers into the metabolic brain. This has allowed us to elucidate a mechanism for leptin resistance in obesity and, importantly, to uncover that defects in tanycytic shuttles could contribute to type 2 diabetes, both of which are recognized risk factors for dementia.

Discover Publications

Dr. Vincent Prévot earned his doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Lille in 1999 and has directed the Laboratory Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain since 2006. He was promoted to the rank of Exceptional Class Research Director at Inserm in 2024.

His research investigates the intricate neuronal and glial mechanisms governing energy and glucose metabolism, as well as reproduction, with a focus on their connections to age-related conditions like type 2 diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Prévot’s groundbreaking contributions to understanding the hypothalamus’s role in regulating metabolism and reproduction, and its subsequent impact on sensory and cognitive functions, have been recognized with numerous prestigious national and international awards. These honors include the 2024 Edwin B. Astwood Award from the Endocrine Society (USA) and the Inserm Research Prize, the 2023 Scientific Grand Prizes from the Institut de France-NRJ Foundation for Neuroscience and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM), the 2021 Prix Charles Thibault, and the 2017 Grand Prix Kuhlmann. He is also an active member of learned societies.

He served as President of the International Federation of Neuroendocrinology (INF, 2020-2024) and the French Society for Neuroendocrinology (SNE, 2013-2015) as well as Treasurer of the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS, 2015-2017) and the French Society for Neuroscience (2009-2011).

Estrogen receptor-α signaling in tanycytes lies at the crossroads of fertility and metabolism. Metabolism. 158:155976. PMID: 39019342 (2024)

Fernandois D, Rusidzé M, Mueller-Fielitz H, Sauve F, Deligia E, Silva MSB, Evrard F, Franco-García A, Mazur D, Martinez-Corral I, Jouy N, Rasika S, Maurage CA, Giacobini P, Nogueiras R, Dehouck B, Schwaninger M, Lenfant F, Prevot V.

Tanycytic transcytosis inhibition disrupts energy balance, glucose homeostasis and cognitive function in male mice. Mol Metab. 87:101996. PMID: 39047908 (2024)

Duquenne M, Deligia E, Folgueira C, Bourouh C, Caron E, Pfrieger F, Schwaninger M, Nogueiras R, Annicotte JS, Imbernon M, Prévot V.

Long-COVID cognitive impairments and reproductive hormone deficits may stem from GnRH neuronal death. eBioMedicine 96 :104784. PMID: 37713808 (2023)

Sauve F#, Nampoothiri S#, Clarke S A#, Fernandois D#, Coêlho CFF#, Dewisme J, Mills E G, Ternier G, Cotellessa L, Iglesias-Garcia C, Mueller-Fielitz H, Lebouvier T, Perbet R, Florent V, Baroncini M, Sharif A, Ereño-Orbea J, Mercado-Gómez M, Palazon A, Mattot V, Pasquier , Catteau-Jonard S, Martinez-Chantar M, Hrabovszky E, Jourdain M, Deplanque D, Morelli A, Guarnieri G, Storme L, Robil C, Trottein F, Nogueiras R, Schwaninger M, Pigny P‡, Poissy J‡, Chachlaki K‡, Maurage C-A‡, Giacobini P‡, Dhillo W‡, Rasika S. ‡*, Prevot V‡*

Protocol for simultaneous patch-clamp recording from tanycytes and neurons in living mouse brain slices STAR Protoc. 2023 4:102571. PMID: 37733593 (2023)

Lhomme T, Prevot V.

GnRH replacement rescues cognition in Down syndrome. Science. 377:eabq4515. ‡ co-first authors (News and views in the same issue) (PMID: 36048943) (2022)

Manfredi-Lozano M‡, Leysen V‡, Adamo M‡, Paiva I, Rovera R, Pignat JM, Timzoura FE, Candlish M, Eddarkaoui S, Malone SA, Silva MSB, Trova S, Imbernon M, Decoster L, Cotellessa L, Tena-Sempere M, Claret M, Paoloni-Giacobino A, Plassard D, Paccou E, Vionnet N, Acierno J, Maceski AM, Lutti A, Pfrieger F, Rasika S, Santoni F, Boehm U, Ciofi P, Buée L, Haddjeri N, Boutillier AL, Kuhle J, Messina A, Draganski B, Giacobini P, Pitteloud N, Prevot V

NOS1 mutations cause hypogonadotrpic hypogonadism with sensory and cognitive deficits that can be reversed in infantile mice. Sci Transl Med 14, eabh2369. (Cover illustration) PMID: 36197968 (2022)

Chachlaki K, Messina A, Delli V, Leysen V, Maurnyi C, Huber C, Ternier G, Skrapits K, Papadakis G, Shruti S, Kapanidou M, Cheng X, Acierno J, Rademaker J, Rasika S, Quinton R, Niedziela M, L'Allemand D, Pignatelli D, Dirlewander M, Lang-Muritano M, Kempf P, Catteau-Jonard S, Niederländer NJ, Ciofi P, Tena-Sempere M, Garthwaite J, Storme L, Avan P, Hrabovszky E, Carleton A, Santoni F, Giacobini P, Pitteloud N, Prevot V.

Tanycytes control hypothalamic liraglutide uptake and its anti-obesity actions. Cell Metab. 34:1054-1063.e7. PMID: 35716660 (2022)

Imbernon M, Saponaro C, Helms HCC, Duquenne M, Fernandois D, Deligia E, Denis RGP, Chao DHM, Rasika S, Staels B, Pattou F, Pfrieger FW, Brodin B, Luquet S, Bonner C, Prevot V

Melatonin drugs inhibit SARS-CoV-2 entry into the brain and virus-induced damage of cerebral small vessels. Cell Mol Life Sci. 79:361.* co-last author. PMID: 35697820 (2022)

Cecon E, Fernandois D, Renault N, Coelho CFF, Wenzel J, Bedart C, Izabelle C, Gallet S, Le Poder S, Klonjkowski B, Schwaninger M, Prevot V*, Dam J*, Jockers R.*

GnRH neurons recruit astrocytes in infancy to facilitate network integration and sexual maturation. Nat Neurosci 24, 1660-1672. PMID: 34795451 (2021)

Pellegrino, G., M. Martin, C. Allet, T. Lhomme, S. Geller, D. Franssen, V. Mansuy, M. Manfredi-Lozano, A. Coutteau-Robles, V. Delli, S. Rasika, D. Mazur, A. Loyens, M. Tena-Sempere, J. Siepmann, F. P. Pralong, P. Ciofi, G. Corfas, A. S. Parent, S. R. Ojeda, A. Sharif, Prevot V.

Leptin brain entry via a tanycytic LepR-EGFR shuttle controls lipid metabolism and pancreas function. Nat Metab, 3, 1071-1090. (News and views in the same issue; Cover illustration) PMID: 34341568 (2021)

Duquenne, M., Folgueira, C., Bourouh, C., Millet, M., Silva, A., Clasadonte, J., Imbernon, M., Fernandois, D., Martinez-Corral, I., Kusumakshi, S., Caron, E., Rasika, S., Deliglia, E., Jouy, N., Oishi, A., Mazzone, M., Trinquet, E., Tavernier, J., Kim, Y.B., Ory, S., Jockers, R., Schwaninger, M., Boehm, U., Nogueiras, R., Annicotte, J.S., Gasman, S., Dam, J. & Prevot, V.

2025 – 2025 Ernst Knobil lecture; award from the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS)
2024 – 2024 Inserm Research Award
2024 – Edwin B. Astwood Award for Outstanding Research in Basic Science from the Endocrine Society, USA
2023 – 2023 Scientific Grand Prize from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (FRM), France
2023 – 2023 Scientific Grand Prize NRJ Fondation for Neuroscience-Institut de France (French National Academies), France
2023 – Laureate of a European Research Council (ERC) proof of concept Grant, Europe
2023 – Mars Lecture; Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB)
2022 – Lecture Alfred Fessard 2023; award from the French Society for Neuroscience, France
2021 – Prix Charles Thibault; award from the GDR Repro (research group on reproduction), CNRS, France.
2019 – Laureate and coordinator of a Horizon 2020 Framework Programme of the European Union, Europe
2018 – Laureate of a ERC Synergy Grant, Europe
2018 – Jacques Benoit Lecture, award from the French Society for Neuroendocrinology, 9th International Congress of Neuroendocrinology (ICN2018), Toronto, Canada.
2017 – Grand Prix Kuhlmann, award from the Société des Sciences, de l’Agriculture et des Arts de Lille.
2017 – Plenary lecture at the 27th meeting of the Hellenic Society for Neuroscience, Athens, December 2017.
2015 – Plenary lecture at the 12th meeting of the French Society for Neuroscience, Montpellier, May 2015.
2014-2017 – Inserm Reward for the Excellence of Research
2007-2012 – Contract for translational research, Inserm –Lille County Hospital
2000 – “Inserm 2000” postdoctoral fellowship
1996 – Doctoral fellowship from the French Ministry of Research

Selected publications