NP3 (UPSP)
Nutrition, Pathophysiology and Pharmacology Unit
The unit in a few clicks
NP3 at a glance
Unit NP3 is a young unit created in 2017. It conducts a research program aimed at evaluating innovative nutritional strategies in the management of obesity in cats and dogs. This program draws on the Unit's technical platforms and animal infrastructures, as well as collaborations with academic and private partners in multidisciplinary research areas (nutrition, nutraceuticals, pharmacology, molecular biology).
Technical facilities
In-house facilities
- Pharmacological and phytochemical exploration platform (studies on isolated organs)
- Animal experimentation platform
- Nutritional analysis platform
- Intestinal permeability analysis
- Federative molecular biology platform
External platforms
- CRNH-Ouest (Partnership)
- Phytochemical analysis (Partnership)
- Microbiota analysis (Partnership)
Keywords
NUTRITION - DOG - CAT - OBESITY - RAT - NUTRACEUTICAL - BOTANICAL EXTRACT - DYSBIOSIS - META-INFLAMMATION - MOLECULAR BIOLOGY - OXIDATIVE STRESS - BACTERIAL METABOLITES - INTESTINAL REACTIVITY AND PERMEABILITY - ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION - METABOLISM
Unit Director
Prof. Yassine MALLEM
Adress
101 Route de Gachet44307 NANTES Cedex 3
Unit presentation
On 1 January 2023, this unit was made up of six professors, two senior lecturers, two research associates, four research and training technicians, five technical animal staff, and a secretary – this amounts to twenty permanent staff members and contract workers. There are also four PhD students and two master’s degree students. So this unit includes twenty-six people in total today.
Research themes
New nutraceutical strategies in managing obesity and its comorbidities.
- Exploration of the effects of micro-nutritional or polyphenolic combinations on the development of obesity and its complications in models of spontaneous or experimental obesity.
- Exploration of the effects of a supplement made of phytobiotic mixes (combination of probiotics and plant extracts) in overweight dogs and cats.
- Analysing and understanding the action of certain botanical extracts on obesity and related disorders through research into nutritional, inflammatory and microbiotic signatures.
- Assessing the impact of our nutraceutical strategies on animal well-being.
- Developing the unit’s expertise by using new experimental approaches (i.e. intestinal permeability, tests on cartilage explants and infrapatellar adipose tissue).
Through its experimental animal houses, kennels and cattery, the NP3 research unit offers an area of expertise that is almost unique in Europe in the field of feeding domestic carnivores.
Given the limits of in vitro techniques and mathematical models, the unit has developed expertise in digestibility and efficacy studies on the target species. Respect for regulations and attention to animal well-being are at the heart of each of our projects.
The projects are adaptable and in line with the unit’s scientific policy. They meet a two-fold challenge: on the one hand, this challenge is industrial with an aim to support the partner firm’s growth in their production and industrial foresight; and on the other hand, it is scientific with an aim for NP3 to strengthen its scientific expertise in nutrition and nutraceuticals.
Unit Manager:
Pr Yassine MALLEM
Assistant Manager:
Pr Jean-Claude DESFONTIS
The unit at a glance
New nutraceutical strategies in the management of obesity and its comorbidities.
Projects in progress
- Public-Private Partnership (Project with Nor-Feed as part of the France Relance plan) - Improving animal health and welfare: exploring the effects of nutraceuticals based on botanical extracts (2022-2024)
- Projects under Cifre contract (Société PiLeJe) or supported by the Pays de la Loire Region - Exploring the effects of standardized plant extracts in preventing obesity in dogs and cats (2022-2025)
- Public-Private Partnership (Société Adare, Société Wamine) - Study of the impact on overall health of probiotic and post-biotic agents in dogs and cats (2020-2025)
Master's/Doctoral school affiliation
Unit NP3 is fully aligned with the teaching offer of the Universities of Nantes and Brittany in the fields of nutrition and drugs (Ecoles Doctorales Biologie-Santé and Nutrition-Santé). It regularly welcomes students from the Master 2 in Regulatory Physiology (Université de Brest), and now students from the Master 1 in Nutraceutical Engineering (Université de Rennes) and Master 1 in MICAS (Université de Nantes).
Current news/collaborations
- PhAN1280 unit (INRAE Nantes): nutraceuticals and microbiota
- MetaGenoPolis unit (Jouy-en-Josas research center): nutraceuticals and microbiota
- SONAS unit (EA921): Botanical extracts and metabolomic profiling in dogs
- ISPSO (Institut des Sciences Pharmaceutiques de Suisse Occidentale, University of Geneva): phytochemical characterization of plant extracts (currently being formalized)
- Numerous collaborations with socio-economic players