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Faculty Detail    
Name ANTHONY P NICHOLAS
  
Campus Address SC 339A Zip 0017
Phone  (205) 934-0683
E-mail  nicholas@uab.edu
Other websites http://www.youtube.com/user/DrNicksBrainChannel
     

Education
Undergraduate  University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania    1982  B.S. 
Graduate  Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Galveston, Texas    1987  Ph.D. 
Medical School  The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas    1990  M.D. 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Neurology Chair Office  Neurology Chair Office Professor
Secondary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Assistant Professor
Center  Alzheimer's Disease Center  Alzheimer's Disease Center Professor
Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Professor
Center  Comp Arthritis, MSK, Bone & Autoimmunity Ctr  Comp Arthritis, MSK, Bone & Autoimmunity Ctr Professor
Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor
Center  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med Professor
Center  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET)  Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET) Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Hughes Med-Grad Fellowship Program 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Medical Scientist Training Program 
Neuroscience Graduate Program 
Neurosciences 

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Nicholas is originally from Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude in 1982 with a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Scranton. He then received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Galveston in 1987, and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1990. After medical school, Dr. Nicholas spent two years completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Neuroscience with Dr. Tomas Hökfelt at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1992, he returned to the United States and in 1996 concluded his neurology residency and became Assistant Professor of Neurology at UAB. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2003 and full Professor in 2014. He also serves as Assistant Chief of Neurology at the Birmingham VA Medical Center and Director of the Movement Disorders Division at UAB. In the past, he was Co-Director of the American Parkinson Disease Association Information and Referral Center at UAB and Director of the UAB Parkinson Disease Research Laboratory from 1997-2005. Dr. Nicholas has won numerous teaching awards at UAB over the years, including 19 Argus Awards and culminating in the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2015. His UAB research appointments include the Civitan International Research Center, UAB's Center for Glial Biology in Medicine and the UAB Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Academy of Neurology  Member   
American Neurological Association  Member   
Movement Disorders Society  Member   
Society for Neuroscience  Member   
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Parkinson’s Disease, Citrullinated Proteins, Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia, Adrenergic Receptors
Description
Major basic science research interests of Dr. Nicholas include the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease, including protein degradation and the role of gliosis in neurodegeneration. Other interests include the neurochemical mechanisms responsible for levodopa-induced dyskinesia and the role of protein deimination (citrullination) in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis (and their animal models). Dr. Nicholas also has experience performing clinical research trials, including testing new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and cervical dystonia.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Fang JY, Pérez A, Christine CW, Leehey M, Aminoff MJ, Boyd JT, Morgan JC, Dhall R, Nicholas AP, Bodis-Wollner I, Zweig RM, Goudreau JL, NINDS NET-PD Investigators: Parkinson’s disease severity and use of dopaminergic medications. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 21: 297-299, 2015.  25541182 
Thiele GM, Duryee MJ, Anderson DR, Klassen LW, Mohring SM, Young KA, Benissan-Messan D, Sayles H, Dusad A, Hunter CD, Sokolove J, Robinson WH, O’Dell JR, Nicholas AP, Tuma DJ, Mikuls TR: Malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde adducts and anti-malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde antibodies in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis and Rheumatology, 67: 645-655, 2015.   25417811 
Hermansson M, Artemenko K, Ossipova E, Eriksson H, Lengqvist J, Makrygiannakis D, Catrina AI, Nicholas AP, Klareskog L, Savitski M, Zubarev R, Jakobsson P-J: MS analysis of rheumatoid arthritic synovial tissue identifies specific citrullination sites on fibrinogen. Proteomics: Clinical Application, 4: 511-518, 2010.  21137068 
Lange S, Gögel S, Leung K-Y, Vernay B, Nicholas AP, Causey CP, Thompson PR, Greene NDE, Ferretti P: Protein deiminases: New players in the developmentally regulated loss of neural regenerative ability. Developmental Biology, 335: 205-214, 2011.  21539830 
Makrygiannakis D, Revu S, Engström M, af Klint E, Nicholas AP, Pruijn GJM, Catrina AI: Local administration of glucocorticoids decrease synovial citrullination in rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Research and Therapy, 14: R20, 1-9, 2012.  22284820 
Nesse W, Westra J, Van der Wal J, Abbas F, Nicholas AP, Vissink A, Brouwer E: The periodontium of periodontitis patients contains citrullinated proteins which may play a role in ACPA formation. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 39: 599-607, 2012.  22530757 
LeWitt PA, Hauser RA, Lu M, Nicholas AP, Weiner W, Coppard N, Leinonen M, Savola JM: Randomized clinical trial of fipamezole for dyskinesia in Parkinson’s disease (FJORD study). Neurology, 79: 163-169, 2012.  22744665 
Goetz CG, Stebbins GT, Chung KA, Hauser RA, Miyasaki JM, Nicholas AP, Poewe W, Rascol O, Stacy MA, Nutt JG, Tanner, CM, Urkowitz A, Jaglin JA, Ge S: Which dyskinesia scale best detects treatment response? A double-blind, placebo controlled trial using multiple dyskinesia measures. Movement Disorders, 28: 341-346, 2013.  23390076 
Nicholas AP, Pieribone VA, Arvidsson U, Hökfelt T: Serotonin, substance P and glutamate/ aspartate-like immunoreactivities in medullo-spinal pathways of rat and primate. Neuroscience, 48: 545-559, 1992.  1376453 
Nicholas AP, Pieribone V, Dagerlind A, Meister B, Elde R, Hökfelt T: In situ hybridization. A complementary method to radioligand-mediated autoradiography for localizing adrenergic, alpha-2 receptor-producing cells. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 763: 222-242, 1995.  7677334 
Pieribone VA, Nicholas AP, Dagerlind Å, Hökfelt T: Distribution of alpha-1 adrenoceptors in rat brain revealed by in situ hybridization experiments utilizing subtype-specific probes. Journal of Neuroscience, 14: 4252-4268, 1994.  8027777 
Nicholas AP, Pieribone VA, Hökfelt T: Cellular localization of mRNA for beta-1 and beta-2 adrenergic receptors in rat brain: an in situ hybridization study. Neuroscience, 56: 1023-1039, 1993.  8284033 
Nicholas AP, Pieribone V, Hökfelt T: Distributions of mRNAs for alpha-2 adrenergic receptor subtypes in rat brain: an in situ hybridization study. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 328: 585-604, 1993.  8381444 
Nicholas AP, Hökfelt T, Pieribone VA: The distribution and significance of CNS adrenoceptors examined with in situ hybridization. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences 17 :245-255, 1996.  8756183 
Nicholas AP, Whitaker JN: Preparation of a monoclonal antibody to citrullinated epitopes: its characterization and some applications to immunohistochemistry in human brain. Glia 37 :328-336, 2002.  11870872 
Nicholas AP, King JL, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Gupta KB, McInnis C, Whitaker JN: Immunohistochemical localization of citrullinated proteins in adult rat brain. Journal of Comparative Neurology 459 :251-66, 2003.  12655508 
Nicholas AP, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Tourtellotte WW: Increased citrullinated glial fibrillary acidic protein in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Journal of Comparative Neurology 473 :128-136, 2004.  15067723 
Nicholas AP, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Barnum SR: Expression of citrullinated proteins in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Journal of Comparative Neurology 486 :254-266, 2005.  15844173 
Nicholas AP: Levodopa-induced hyperactivity in mice treated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine. Movement Disorders, 22: 99-104, 2007.  17133519 
Nicholas AP, Lubin FD, Hallett PJ, Vattem P, Ravenscroft P, Bezard E, Zhou S, Fox SH, Brotchie JM, Sweatt JD, Standaert DG: Striatal histone modifications in models of levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Journal of Neurochemistry, 106: 486-494, 2008.  18410512 
Nicholas AP, Buck K, Ferger B: Effects of levodopa on striatal monoamines in mice with levodopa-induced hyperactivity. Neuroscience Letters, 443: 204-208, 2008.  18657593 
Nicholas AP: Dual immunofluorescence study of citrullinated proteins in Parkinson diseased substantia nigra. Neuroscience Letters, 495: 26-29, 2011.  21414385 
Nicholas AP: Dual immunofluorescence study of citrullinated proteins in Alzheimer diseased frontal cortex. Neuroscience Letters, 545: 107-111, 2013.  23648390 
Martin RC, Triebel KL, Kennedy RE, Nicholas AP, Watts RL, Stover NP, Brandon M, Marson DC: Impaired financial abilities in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 19: 986-990, 2013.  23899743 
Sung VW, Nicholas AP: Non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease: Expanding the view of Parkinson’s disease beyond a pure motor, pure dopaminergic problem. Neurologic Clinics, 31: S1-S16, 2013.  23931951 
Clark DG, Wadley VG, Kapur P, DeRamus TP, Singletary B, Nicholas AP, Blanton PD, Lokken K, Deshpande H, Marson D, Deutsch G: Lexical factors and cerebral regions influencing verbal fluency performance in MCI. Neuropsychologia, 54: 98-111, 2014.  24384308 
Clark DG, Kapur P, Geldmacher DS, Brockington JC, Harrell L, DeRamus TP, Blanton PD, Lokken K, Nicholas AP, Marson DC: Latent information in fluency lists predicts functional decline in persons at risk for Alzheimer disease. Cortex, 55: 202-218, 2014.  24556551 
U KP, Subramanian V, Nicholas AP, Thompson PR, Ferretti P: Modulation of calcium-induced cell death in human neural stem cells by the novel peptidylarginine deiminase-AIF pathway. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Molecular Cell Research, 1843: 1162-1171, 2014.  24607566 
Nicholas AP, Borgohain R, Chaná P, Surmann E, Thompson EL, Bauer L, Whitesides J, Elmer LW: A randomized study of rotigotine dose response on “off” time in advanced Parkinson's disease. Journal of Parkinson's Disease, 4: 361-373, 2014.  24643203 
Lange S, Rocha-Ferreira E, Thei L, Mawjee P, Bennett K, Thompson PR, Subramanian V, Nicholas AP, Peebles D, Hristova M, Raivich G: Peptidylarginine Deiminases (PADs) – Novel drug targets for prevention of neuronal damage following hypoxic ischemic insult (HI) in neonates. Journal of Neurochemistry, 130: 555-562, 2014.   24762056 
Bradford CM, Cross AK, Ramos I, Haddock G, Nicholas AP, McQuaid S, Woodroofe N: Localization of citrullinated proteins in normal appearing white matter and lesions in the central nervous system in multiple sclerosis. Journal of Neuroimmunology, 273: 85-95, 2014.  24907905 
 

Keywords
Parkinson's disease, protein deimination (citrullination), levodopa-induced dyskinesia, cervical dystonia