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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 ...
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.
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.
Across multiple species and in some cases across sexes, there is evidence for the phylogenetic conservation of parental hormones. These include the relationships between the hormones estrogen, progesterone, prolactin, and oxytocin. In males across species, including humans, increased prolactin levels are associated with fatherhood.
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 ...
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]
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.
Prolactin and oxytocin are vital for establishing milk supply initially, however, once the milk supply is well established, the volume and content of the milk produced is controlled locally. [10]: 18–21 [22] Although prolactin levels are higher on average among breastfeeding mothers, prolactin levels themselves do not correlate to milk volume.