Assistant Professor of Psychology
Ph.D., Boston University, Boston, MA USA
Postdoctoral Fellow, Developmental
Neuroendocrinology Laboratory and
McGill Program for the Study of Behaviour, Genes and Environment
Area: Behavioral Neuroscience
E-mail: ncameron@binghamton.edu
Phone: 607-777-4580
Office: Science IV, Room 102
Lab: Science IV, Room 164
Member of Society for Neuroscience, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, International Society for developmental Psychobiology and International Behavioral Neuroscience Society.
Neuroendocrinology, female reproductive function, maternal care, sexual behavior.
Early environment influences the reproductive development in humans, especially on the timing of puberty and the onset of sexual behavior in girls. In Western societies, low socio-economic status is associated with an increased frequency of family dysfunction and a compromised quality of parent – child interactions and predicts earlier puberty and sexual activity in females. Thus the quality of the prevailing environment defines parental investment, which in turn, is reflected in the mating and parental behaviors of the offspring. Unfortunately, most of the data on the effect of early environmental influences on the development and function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis in the human population remain largely correlational. Animal research is the most powerful, complimentary approach to fully understanding the mechanisms that program reproductive function. Using an animal model of natural variations in maternal care I have been able to study the parental influences on the reproductive system of the female offspring. I use behavioral testing, cross-fostering and embryo transfer studies to investigate the impact of parental care on the offspring’s phenotype. My research focuses mainly on neuroendocrine functions; using infusions of drugs in discrete brain areas controlling reproductive functions and sexual behaviors and monitoring gonadal hormones release under different conditions. My research is critical in defining the causal role of parental care in female development.
I think that mentoring involves a balance between guidance, structure, and encouragement of independence. Students should be guided in the development of relatively straightforward research projects that can yield publishable findings, while being provided with training in experimental methods. Students, who are given the opportunity to prepare, submit publications as well as present orally their research as part of their training, develop effective communication skills. I am convinced that the best way to do high-quality research is to let students become actively involved intellectually and contribute their own ideas to the research problem.
Erskine, M.S., Lehmann M.L., Cameron, N.M. and Polston, E (2004). Co-regulation of sexual behaviour and pregnancy induction: an exploratory synthesis. Behavioural Brain Research, Vol. 153, pp 295-315
Cameron, N.M. , Ha, G.K. and Erskine, M.S. (2004). Fos expression after mating in noradrenergic cells of the A1 and A2 areas of the medulla is altered by adrenalectomy. J Neuroendocrinology, Vol. 16, No 9, pp 750-757.
Cameron, N.M. , Carey, P.S. and Erskine, M.S. (2004). Medullary noradrenergic neurons release norepinephrine in the medial amygdala in females in response to mating stimulation sufficient for pseudopregnancy. Brain Research, Vol 1022, pp 137-147.
Cameron, N.M., Champagne, F.A., Parent C. Fish, E.W. Ozaki-Kuroda, K. and Meaney, M.J. (2005) The programming of individual differences in defensive responses and reproductive strategies in the rat through variations in maternal care. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Vol. 29, No. 4-5 pp 843-865
Cameron, N.M., Fish, E.W. and Meaney, M.J. (2008) Maternal influences on the sexual behavior and reproductive success of the female rat. Horm Behav. Vol 54, No 1 pp 178-184
Cameron, N.M., Del Corpo, A., Diorio, J., McAllister, K., Sharma S. and Meaney, M.J. (2008) Maternal programming of sexual behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal function in the female rat. Plos One. Vol 3, No 5 e2210.
Cameron, N, Shahrokh, D., Del Corpo, A., Dhir, S., Szyf, M., Champagne, F.A. and Meaney, M.J. (2008) Epigenetic programming of phenotypic variations in reproductive strategies in the rat through maternal care. J. Neuroendocrinol. Vol.20, No 6 pp 795-801
