SCoBIRC FACULTY

Kimberly Nixon, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor,
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences

B.A., Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1992
Ph.D., Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience), The University of Texas at Austin, 2000
Postdoc, Molecular Neuropharmacology, Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2005

Research Interests

The Nixon lab is interested in the role of neural stem cells in alcoholic neuropathology. The seminal discovery that neural stem cells produce newborn neurons in the adult brain (adult neurogenesis) has changed the way we think about CNS pathologies and associated dysfunctions. Understanding the factors that regulate adult neurogenesis and its contribution to brain and behavioral processes provides a new framework for understanding neurodegenerative and regenerative effects that occurs during active alcohol dependence and abstinence respectively. The Nixon Lab uses cutting edge neuroanatomical, biochemical and behavioral techniques to identify the mechanism by which alcohol not only inhibits neural stem cell proliferation and adult neurogenesis during alcohol intoxication but also how it promotes neurogenesis in recovery and abstinence from alcoholism.

A major goal of the lab is to identify and understand the various signaling pathways involved in the recruitment of progenitors following binge-induced brain damage and how that endogenous pathway may be harnessed for pharmacological treatment of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration. Currently, we have three NIH-funded projects that are investigating different aspects of alcohol and neural stem cells:

• Alcohol alteration of the neurogenic niche. The goal of this project is to describe the effect of alcohol on microglia and understand how alcohol-induced effects on microglia affect neural stem cells and the generation of new neurons.
• Mechanisms of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration in the adolescent brain. This project is investigating the role of neural stem cells in alcohol-induced neurodegeneration in an adolescent model of binge drinking.
• Development of novel therapeutics for alcoholism and specifically, alcohol-induced brain damage.

In a collaboration with a local company, we are investigating the transdermal delivery of a novel neuroprotectant in a rodent model of an alcohol use disorder. Please see our collaborator’s website: http://www.alltranz.com/

Select Publications

Crews, F.T. & Nixon, K. (2009). Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration and Regeneration in Alcoholism. Invited Review. Special Issue of Alcohol & Alcoholism: Alcohol Related Brain Damage, 44, 115-27.

Stevenson, J.R., Schroeder, J.P., Nixon, K., Besheer, J., Crews, F.T. & Hodge, C.W. (2008). Abstinence from alcohol drinking produces depression-like behavior and reduced hippocampal neurogenesis in mice. Neuropsychopharmacology, in press.

Nixon, K. & Morris, S. A. (2008). Neural stem cells: A potential mechanism in alcoholic neurodegeneration and recovery. In L. Sher (Ed.) Research on the Neurobiology of Alcohol Use Disorders. Nova Science Publishers (New York).

Nixon, K., Kim, D.H., Potts, E.N., He, J. & Crews, F.T. (2008). Distinct cell proliferation events during abstinence after alcohol dependence: microglia proliferation precedes neurogenesis. Neurobiology of Disease, 31, 218-29.

Nixon, K. (2006). Alcohol and adult neurogenesis: Roles in neurodegeneration and recovery from chronic alcoholism. Invited review, Hippocampus, 16, 287-95.

Crews, F.T., Mdzinarishvili, A., Kim, D.H., He, J., & Nixon, K. (2006). Alcohol inhibits neurogenesis in the adolescent rat. Neuroscience, 137, 437-445.

Nixon, K. & Crews, F.T. (2004). Temporally specific burst in cell proliferation increases hippocampal neurogenesis in protracted abstinence from alcohol. The Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 9714-9722.

Nixon, K. & Crews, F.T. (2002). Binge alcohol exposure decreases neurogenesis in adult rat hippocampus. Journal of Neurochemistry, 83, 1087-1093.

Nixon, K. Hughes, P., Amsel, A., & Leslie, S.W. (2002). NMDA receptor subunit expression following early postnatal exposure to ethanol. Developmental Brain Research, 139, 295-299.

Highfield, D.H., Nixon, K. & Amsel, A. (1996). The NMDA antagonist MK-801 affects non-spatial learning in preweanling rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 110, 300-304.