Favorite quote for this year

Ecclesiastes, Chapter 1, verse 18

Current research interests:

1. Environmental toxicology.  What have we done to our environment and how will this affect our health and well being?  My most recent work in this area has involved mercury and trichloroethylene.

2.Interactions of ligands with biological receptors, especially in the central nervous. This work has been focused on CNS receptors for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.

3.Designer drugs with anticonvulsant activity.  Starting with indane, indole and quinoline parent structures, several compounds have been produced that have anticonvulsant activity, and a few have been found to have other interesting effects.

4. 4.Development of photoaffinity probes.  Converting amines to azides can be an easy method to produce ligands that will bind covalently to proteins when stimulated with light of the proper wavelength.

Recent Publications

Heath, J.C., Abdelmageed, Y., Braden, T.D., Nichols, A.C. and Steffy, D.A., “The effects of chronic mercuric chloride ingestion in female Sprague Dawley rats on fertility and reproduction”, FOOD AND CHEMICAL TOXICOLOGY, in press.

Nichols, A.C. and Steffy, D.A., “Movement of mercury from a contaminated city park in Oxford into the Coosa River, Alabama”, JOURNAL OF THE ALABAMA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, accepted.

Kohute, C.R., Nichols, A.C., Steffy, D.A. and Meade, M.E., “Movement of mercury form contaminated soil into an aquatic food chain”,  JOURNAL OF THE ALABAMA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Vol. 77, No. 3-4, pp. 160-167, 2006.

Nichols, A.C., Murray, T.P. and Richardson, T.D., “Mercury accumulation in catfish (Ictalurus furcantus and Ictalurus punctatus) from the southwestern Tennessee River Valley”, SOUTHEASTERN NATURALIST, Vol. 1, pp. 159-168, 2002.

Nichols, A.C., Yielding, K.L. and Agbe, S.A.O., “A chlorodiazirine derivative of pentamidine with anti-trypanosomal activity”, JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY, Vol. 86, pp. 177-180, 2000.

Nichols, A.C. and Yielding, K.L., “Quinolinic acid derivatives”, U.S. Patent No. 5,914,403, 1999.

Nichols, A.C. and Yielding, K.L., “Anticonvulsant activity of 4-urea-5,7-dichlorokynurenic acid derivatives which are antagonists at the NMDA-associated glycine binding site”, MOLECULAR AND CHEMICAL NEUROPATHOLOGY, Vol. 35, pp. 1-12, 1998.

Recent presentations:

Nichols, A.C. and Steffy, D.A., “Degassing of mercury vapor from contaminated soil”, to be presented at the May, 2009, meeting of the Southeastern Association of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.

Steffy, D., Nichols,A., Baucom, T. and LaGrone, R., “The impact of sustained drought conditions on a ground water pollutant: relating the rise in trichloroethylene concentrations in ground water to diminished flow”, presented at the fall, 2008, meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Nichols, A. and Steffy, D., “Uptake of mercury by earthworms with a subacute exposure”, presented at the spring, 2009, meeting of the Alabama Academy of Sciences.

Cara, L., Hornbuckle, C. and Nichols, A., “Calorimetric investigation of various fast food restaurants”, presented at the spring, 2009, meeting of the Alabama Academy of Sciences.

Nichols,A., Steffy, D. and McLaughlin, A., “Bioaccumulation of mercury from mercury contaminated soils by the earthworm Lumbricus terresteris”, THE TOXICOLOGIST, Vol. 102, suppl., No.1, #1227, 2008.

Nichols,A., Steffy, D. and Muth, E., “Uptake of mercury from contaminated soil by deciduous trees”, THE TOXICOLOGIST, Vol. 96, No.1, 2006.