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Prolactin (PRL), also known as lactotropin and mammotropin, is a protein best known for its role in enabling mammals to produce milk. It is influential in over 300 separate processes in various vertebrates, including humans. [5] Prolactin is secreted from the pituitary gland in response to eating, mating, estrogen treatment, ovulation and ...
Infants suckle their mother's breast longer than with bottles. [5] Mothers and infants spend more time gazing at each other. [4] Mothers are more positive and smile at their child more. [20] Brain imaging research indicates breastfeeding mothers who listen to their infant crying demonstrate greater activity in limbic regions of the
The magnitude that prolactin is elevated can be used as an indicator of the etiology of the hyperprolactinemia diagnosis. Prolactin levels over 250 ng/mL may suggest prolactinoma. Prolactin levels less than 100 ng/mL may suggest drug-induced hyperprolactinemia, macroprolactinemia, nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, or systemic disorders.
A prolactin cell (also known as a lactotropic cell, epsilon acidophil, lactotrope, lactotroph, mammatroph, mammotroph) is a cell in the anterior pituitary which produces prolactin (a peptide hormone) in response to hormonal signals including dopamine (which is inhibitory), thyrotropin-releasing hormone and estrogen (especially during pregnancy), which are stimulatory.
Some research indicates that prolactin in milk is greater at times of higher milk production, and lower when breasts are fuller, and that the highest levels tend to occur between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. [7] Other hormones—notably insulin, thyroxine, and cortisol—are also involved, but their roles are not yet well understood.
Mechanical detection of suckling increases prolactin levels in the body to increase milk synthesis. Excess prolactin may inhibit the menstrual cycle directly, by a suppressive effect on the ovary, or indirectly, by decreasing the release of GnRH. [2] Suckling is a pivotal factor in maintaining lactational amenorrhea postpartum.
Mary Rose Tully with a 17-day-old patient at UNC Hospital, Chapel Hill, December 8, 2008. Mary Rose Tully MPH IBCLC (29 July 1946 – 20 January 2010) was an American lactation consultant, director of the Department of Lactation Services at the University of North Carolina's Women's Hospital, and an adjunct clinical instructor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine.
In the absence of regular, episodic suckling, which keeps prolactin concentrations high, levels of prolactin will quickly drop, the menstrual cycle will resume and hence normal estrogen and progesterone levels will return, and lactation will cease (that is, until next parturition, or until induced lactation (i.e., with a galactogogue), occurs ...