scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

Prolactin

About: Prolactin is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 22356 publications have been published within this topic receiving 609537 citations. The topic is also known as: lactotropin, & PRL,.


Papers
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Lisa B. Biegel1, Mark E. Hurtt, Steven R. Frame, John C. O'Connor, Jon C. Cook 
TL;DR: It is suggested that estradiol may play a role in enhancement of Leydig cell tumors in the rat, and that peroxisome proliferators may induce tumors via a non-LH type mechanism.

319 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is apparent that PRL and GH have an important function in the immune system and future investigations should be directed toward elucidating their site(s) of action.
Abstract: Evidence implicating prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) in the regulation of the immune system has been reviewed. Hypophysectomized animals have deficiencies in both cell-mediated and humoral immunological functions and either PRL or GH corrects these deficiencies. Animals administered bromocryptine, a drug that specifically blocks PRL release, have impaired immune responses similar to hypophysectomized animals, and again both PRL and GH correct these deficiencies. Genetically dwarf animals, which lack both PRL and GH, are also immunocompromised, and once again PRL and GH can correct the deficiencies. In dwarf animals, however, fewer studies have examined PRL actions. In growth-deficient children, immune function is not dramatically altered and basal secretion of GH has been reported. Very few clinical studies have examined whether PRL secretion is also deficient, and this may explain why a clear loss in immune function is not evident in growth-deficient children. In a number of species, including man, both PRL and GH stimulate thymic function and increase the secretion of thymulin, a thymic hormone. No studies, however, have reported on the effects of PRL and GH on other thymic hormones. A number of studies have reported in vitro effects of PRL and GH on cells involved with immunity, and the presence of high-affinity PRL and GH receptors have been observed on a number of these cells. The action of GH on the proliferative response of cells involved with immunity in vitro appears to be mediated by the production of insulin-like growth factor I. The effect of PRL on insulin-like growth factor I production by these cells has not been examined. One of the most consistent findings from in vitro studies is that prolactin antisera blocked a number of immune reactions. This led to the discovery that cells involved with immunity appear capable of producing PRL and GH, but the physiological significance of these observations have not been explored. There is a great need to identify the cell types responding to PRL and GH and this should be a goal of future investigations. There is also a need for investigators to be aware that both PRL and GH are involved in the regulation of the immune system and to design experiments to elucidate where each functions in the maturation cascade of cells involved with immunity. From the evidence available, it is apparent that PRL and GH have an important function in the immune system and future investigations should be directed toward elucidating their site(s) of action.

314 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Jun 1989-Nature
TL;DR: Results indicate that both somatotropes and lactotropes derive from a common GH-expressing stem-somatotrope, which is still present in the adult animal and is capable of repopulating the pituitaries of treated animals with mature GH and Prl producing cells.
Abstract: The pituitary gland, composed of the anterior, intermediate and posterior lobe, represents a principal regulatory interface through which the central nervous system controls body physiology. The ontogeny of the growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (Prl) producing cells of the anterior pituitary has been analysed in transgenic mice, using the thymidine kinase obliteration system (TKO). Cells expressing the herpes virus 1 thymidine kinase (HSV1-TK) gene acquire pharmacological sensitivity to synthetic nucleosides such as FIAU (1-(2-deoxy-2-fluoro-beta-delta-arabinofuranosyl)-5-iodouracil), whose metabolites kill dividing cells. Consequently we created transgenic mice carrying the HSV1-TK gene under the control of either the rat growth hormone or the rat prolactin promoter. If transgenic mice expressing HSV1-TK in somatotropes (GH-producing cells) are treated with FIAU, they develop as dwarfs. The anterior pituitary in these animals is nearly devoid of both somatotropes and lactotropes (Prl-producing cells). By contrast, transgenic mice expressing HSV1-TK in the lactotropes, treated with FIAU, have anatomically and histologically normal pituitaries. Because toxicity depends on cell division, we conclude that Prl expression and lactotrope differentiation are post-mitotic events. These results indicate that both somatotropes and lactotropes derive from a common GH-expressing stem-somatotrope. Unexpectedly, the stemsomatotrope is still present in the adult animal and is capable of repopulating the pituitaries of treated animals with mature GH and Prl producing cells.

314 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Melatonin as well as serotonin, when injected into the third ventricle of the brain of male rats, appeared to stimulate the release of prolactin and inhibit the releaseof FSH as judged by the changes in the concentrations of these hormones in the plasma of the recipient animals.
Abstract: Melatonin as well as serotonin, when injected into the third ventricle of the brain of male rats, appeared to stimulate the release of prolactin and inhibit the release of FSH as judged by the changes in the concentrations of these hormones in the plasma of the recipient animals. (FSH and prolactin were determined by radioimmunoassay.) For example, 30 min after the injection into the third ventricle of doses of 1, 5 and 50 μg melatonin, the plasma prolactin concentrations were 199 ± 11.3 % (mean and SE), 235±16.1% and 304±12.7%, respectively, of the pre-injection levels. The corresponding FSH values were 88±3.7%, 85±3.7% and 74±2.6%. After 2 hr, the plasma prolactin concentration had returned to the pre-injection level; however, the plasma FSH concentration after 2 hr was only 50% of the pre-injection level. The effects of intraventricularly administered serotonin were similar to those seen with melatonin. Isotonic saline solution (2.5 μl) had no effect on the release of prolactin and FSH. When melatonin ...

313 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An entirely new case of cretinism showing combined pituitary hormone deficiencies of thyrotropin, growth hormone and prolactin that appears to be caused by homozygosity for a nonsense mutation in the gene for the Pit-1/GHF-1, the first report in humans of a defect in a transcription activator causing deficiency of multiple target genes.
Abstract: Cretinism is marked by irreversible mental and growth retardation. We describe here an entirely new case of cretinism showing combined pituitary hormone deficiencies of thyrotropin, growth hormone and prolactin that appears to be caused by homozygosity for a nonsense mutation in the gene for the pituitary specific transcription activator, Pit-1/GHF-1 (designated PIT1 in humans for pituitary specific factor 1). This is the first report in humans of a defect in a transcription activator causing deficiency of multiple target genes.

312 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Estrogen
40.7K papers, 1.7M citations
92% related
Thyroid
68.8K papers, 1.5M citations
84% related
Growth factor
34.3K papers, 2.1M citations
83% related
Insulin
124.2K papers, 5.1M citations
83% related
Receptor
159.3K papers, 8.2M citations
82% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023360
2022585
2021202
2020221
2019180
2018172