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Oxytocin has a crucial role in the process of milk ejection. [34] After sucking, the release of oxytocin stimulates the myoepithelial cell contraction in the breast, which forces milk to move from the alveoli, via the milk ducts, and towards the nipple. [34] Oxytocin is secreted quicker than prolactin.
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 ...
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.
Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. [4] Present in animals since early stages of evolution, in humans it plays roles in behavior that include social bonding, love, reproduction, childbirth, and the period after childbirth.
Prolactin and oxytocin trigger the release (letdown) of milk and its ejection from the nipple in a positive feedback loop. [4] It was previously thought that prolactin hormone, which is released by the anterior pituitary in response to the direct nerve stimulation of suckling, was responsible for creating the hormonal pathways necessary to ...
The hormone oxytocin, similarly to prolactin, has been found to increase with an increase in estrogen and the presence of infant cues such as suckling. [19] Oxytocin has been found in other non-human species to inhibit the rejection of offspring; [4] oxytocin is essential for responsive and sensitive caregiving.
With suckling from the infant, prolactin and oxytocin are secreted and mediate milk production and letdown, respectively. [20] [21] [29] Prolactin suppresses the secretion of LH and FSH, which in turn results in continued low levels of estrogen and progesterone, and temporary amenorrhea (absence of menstrual cycles) occurs. [29]
Oxytocin contracts the smooth muscle of the uterus during and after birth, and during orgasm(s). After birth, oxytocin contracts the smooth muscle layer of band-like cells surrounding the alveoli to squeeze the newly produced milk into the duct system. Oxytocin is necessary for the milk ejection reflex, or let-down, in response to suckling, to ...