The hormone from the adenohypophysis, consisting
of single chain of 198 amino acid residues with three disulphide
linkages that stimulates lactation by the mammary glands, in
conjunction with the effects of estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin. Prolactin secretion is normally suppressed by the hypothalamic prolactin inhibitory factor until after parturition.
In birds stimulates secretion of crop milk by the crop glands.
使用
Prolactin is glycosylated.
適応症
Human prolactin is similar in structure to human growth
hormone, and both are good lactogens. In women, prolactin
acts with other hormones on the mammary gland
during pregnancy to develop lactation and after birth to
maintain it. Hyperprolactinemia causes impotence in men
and amenorrhea and infertility in women. Chronically elevated
levels of circulating prolactin are associated with
suppression of 17-β-estradiol and testosterone production
in the ovaries and testes.
Prolactin serum levels increase during pregnancy and
breast-feeding, at least immediately after the birth. In
both men and women, prolactin increases after sleep
starts, continues to increase during the night, and increases
markedly during stress. Prolactin release is
episodic during the day. More than 20 hormones and neurotransmitters
affect prolactin production, but the dominant
physiological control is primarily negative, mediated
by dopamine from the hypothalamus. Dopaminergic agonists
inhibit prolactin release and antagonists, such as the
antipsychotic drugs, increase release.
一般的な説明
Prolactin (PRL), a hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary,was discovered in 1928. It is a 198-residue polypeptidewith general structural features similar to those of GH.PRL stimulates lactation of parturition.
