The major aim of my research program is to understand the neurobiological basis of age-related cognitive decline using rodent models of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. Our focus is on the role of oxidative stress on neuronal signaling with an emphasis on sensitive and reliable rodent behavioral assessments that translate into application to the human condition.

Stanton, M.E. and Nicolle, M.M. (1989) Taste discrimination learning in preweanling rats. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 28:319?322.

Nicolle, M.M., Barry, C.C., Veronesi, B., and Stanton, M.E. (1989) Fornix transections disrupt the ontogeny of latent inhibition in the rat. Psychobiology 17:349?357.

Nagahara, A.H., Nicolle, M.M. and Gallagher, M. (1993) Alterations in [3H]-kainate receptor binding in the hippocampal formation of aged Long-Evans rats. Hippocampus 3:269-277.

Gallagher, M. and Nicolle, M.M. (1993) Animal models of normal aging: Relationship between cognitive decline and markers in hippocampal circuitry. Behavioral Brain Research 57:155-162.

Nagahara, A.H., Gill, T.M., Nicolle, M.M., Gallagher, M. (1996) Alterations in opiate receptor binding in the hippocampus of aged Long-Evans rats. Brain Research 707(1):22-30.

Nicolle, M.M., Bizon, J., and Gallagher, M. (1996) Ionotropic glutamate receptors in the hippocampus and striatum of aged rats: Relationship to cognitive decline. Neuroscience74 (3): 741-756.

Nicolle, M.M., Shivers, L.A., Gill, T.M. and Gallagher, M. (1997) Hippocampal N-methyl-D-aspartate and kainate binding in response to entorhinal cortex aspiration or 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the basal forebrain. Neuroscience.77 (3): 649-659.

Nicolle, M.M., Colombo, P., Gallagher, M., and McKinney, M. (1999) Metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated hippocampal phosphoinositide turnover is blunted in spatial learning impaired aged rats. Journal of Neuroscience19 (21): 9604-9610.

Nicolle, M.M., Gallagher, M. and McKinney, M. (1999) No loss of synaptic proteins in the hippocampus of aged, behaviorally-impaired Long Evans rats. Neurobiology of Aging 20: 343-348.

Nicolle, M.M., Gallagher, M. and McKinney, M. (1999) Analyses of hippocampal circuitry in aging. Neurobiology of Aging 20: 359-360.

Nicolle, M.M., Gallagher, M. and McKinney, M. (2001) Visualization of muscarinic receptor-mediated phosphoinositide turnover in the hippocampus of young and aged, learning-impaired Long Evans rats. Hippocampus. 11:741-746

Nicolle, M.M., Gonzales, J., Sugaya, K., Bryan, D., Lund, K., Gallagher, M. and McKinney, M. (2001) Signatures of hippocampal oxidative stress in aged spatial learning-impaired rodents. Neuroscience.107:415-431.

Nicolle, M.M. and Baxter, M.G. (2003)Glutamate receptor binding in the frontal cortex of aged rats with impaired attentional set shifting. European Journal of Neuroscience. 18:1-8.

Nicolle, M.M., Prescott, S., and Bizon, J. (2003) Emergence of a cue strategy on the water maze task in aged B6xSJL F1 hybrid mice. Learning and Memory. 10:520-524.

Gluck, M.A., Myers, C.E., Nicolle, M.M., Johnson, S. (2006) Computational Models of the Hippocampal Region: Implications for Prediction of Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease in Non-demented Elderly. Current Alzheimer Research. 3(3):247-57.

Shi, L., Adams, M.M., Long, A., Carter, C.C., Benett, C., Sonntag, W.E., Nicolle, M.M., Robbins, M., D’Agostino, R., Brunso-Bechtold, J. (2006) Spatial learning and memory deficits after whole-brain irradiation are associated with changes in NMDA receptor subunits in the hippocampus. Radiation Research 166:892-899.

Baskerville, K.A., Kent, C., Nicolle, M.M., Gallagher, M., McKinney, M. (2006) Aging causes partial loss of basal forebrain but no loss of pontinereticular cholinergic neurons. Neuroreport 17(17): 1819-1823.

Zhuo, J.M, Prescott, S.L., Murray, M.E, Zhang, H.-Y., Baxter, M.G., Nicolle M.M. (2007) Early discrimination reversal learning impairment and preserved spatial learning in a longitudinal study of Tg2576 APP mice. Neurobiology of Aging 28:1248-1257.

Bizon, J., Prescott, S., Nicolle, M.M. (2007)Intact spatial learning in adult Tg2576 mice. Neurobiology of Aging 28(3):440-446.

Zhang H., Watson M., Gallagher M., Nicolle M.M. (2007) Muscarinic receptor-mediated GTP-Eu binding in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex is correlated with spatial memory impairment in aged rats. Neurobiology of Aging 28(4): 619-626.

Kukar, T. Prescott, S., Eriksen, J.L., Holloway, V., Murphy, M.P., Koo, E.H., Golde, T.E., Nicolle, M.M. (2007): Chronic administration of R-flurbiprofen attenuates cognitive learning impairments in transgenic amyloid precursor protein mice. BMC Neuroscience, 8:54

Zhuo, J.M., Prakasam, A., Murray, M.E., Zhang, H.-Y., Baxter, M.G., Sambamurti, K., Nicolle, M.M. (2008)  An increase in Ab42 in the prefrontal cortex is associated with a reversal learning. Current Alzheimer’s Research. 5(4): 385-391.

Coming soon . .