Effects of Prolactin

Ferkin M., Sorokin E. and Johnston R.E. (1997). Effect of prolactin on the attractiveness of male odors to females in Meadow Voles independance and additive effects with testosterone. Horn Behav 31, 55-63. 

Risperidone produces at least as much sexual dysfunction as FGAs, but other SGAs (which have a weaker effect of prolactin) are less likely to have this effect. 

The lipidosterolic extract, in Chinese hamster ovary cells, reduced the basal activity of a K channel and of protein kinase (PK) C. Pretreatment of the cells with the extract for 6-36 hours abolished the effects of prolactin on Ca 3 K conductance and PKC. The results indicated that the extract can block prolactin-induced prostate growth by inhibiting several steps of prolactin receptor signal transduction . 

Roky R, Valatx JL, Jouvet M. Effect of prolactin on the sleep-wake cycle in the rat. Neurosci Lett 1993 156 117-120. 

Zhang SQ, Kimura M, Inoue S. Effects of prolactin on sleep in cyclic rats. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 1999 53 101-103. 

Takahashi K, Koyama Y, Kayama Y, Yamamoto M. The effects of prolactin on the mesopontine tegmental neurons. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 2000 54 257-258. 

Ogawa, M. (1975). The effects of prolactin, cortisol and calcium-free environment of water influx in isolated gills of Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 52A, 539-543. 

Prolactin has been shown to increase LH receptor numbers in dwarf mice, seasonally repressed hamsters and hypophysectomized rats (see Ref. 6 for other references). In the hypophysectomized rats the combined effects of prolactin, growth hormone and LH were necessary to maintain the LH receptors [46]. The induction of hyperprolactinemia leads to increased LH receptors. Decreases in serum prolactin levels caused by treatment with compounds that inhibit the release of prolactin (dopamine analogues) decrease LH receptors (see Ref. 6 for other references). 

Cytoskeletal elements may also be involved in mediating the effects of prolactin on the mammary gland. Colchicine, which disrupts intracellular microtubules, completely blocks the effect of prolactin on casein mRNA production [86]. However, griseofulvin, another microtubule-disrupting drug, has no such effect. 

A variety of effects of prolactin has been described on normal tissues and cells of the immune system, deriving from rats, mice and humans [21,22], The nature of the effects varies they can be either stimulatory or inhibitory, depending on the system studied and the concentration of prolactin. Thus, in the rat, hypophysectomy leads to impairment of the immune response which can be restored by injection of prolactin [118]. On the other hand, excessively high levels of prolactin can also give rise to an impaired immune response. 

Neurotrophic effects of prolactin on TIDA neuronal development... 

Hentschel K, Moore KE, Lookingland KJ (2000) Effects of prolactin on expression of Fos-related antigens in tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons in subdivisions of the arcuate nucleus. Brain Res 557 110-118. Hesketh R (1995) The Oncogene Facts Book, pp. 105-160. Academic Press, New York. 

Hokfelt T, Fuxe K (1972) Effects of prolactin and ergot alkaloids on the tubero-infundibular dopamine (DA) neurons. Neuroendocrinology 9 100-122. 

Selmanoff MK (1981) The lateral and medial median eminence distribution of dopamine, norepinephrine and luteinizing hormone releasing hormone and the effect of prolactin on catecholamine turnover. Endocrinology 108 1116-1122. 

As a result, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and citrate synthase are inhibited. The stimulatory effect of prolactin is confined to the mammary gland and may involve synthesis of the enzyme. 

Amino acid sequence of human prolactin B. Shome, A. F. Parlow, J. Clin. EndocrinoL Metab. 45, 1112 (1977). Effects of prolactin on the murine immune system E. Nagy et al, Acta EadocrinoL 102, 351 (1983). Symposium on clinical endocrinology Horm. Rex 22, 129-252 (1985). General... 

Prolactin plays an important role in inducing growth and differentiation of the ductal and lobu-loalveolar epithelium, which is essential for lactation. Prolactin receptors are present in many other sites however, the physiological effects of prolactin at these sites remain poorly characterized. 

Patients with prolactinomas who wish to become pregnant comprise a special subset of hyperprolactinemic patients. Because experience with bromocriptine is more extensive than that with any other receptor agonist, bromocriptine is recommended as the first-line treatment in this setting. Bromocriptine relieves the inhibitory effect of prolactin on ovulation and permits most patients with prolactinomas to become pregnant without apparent detrimental effects on pregnancy or fetal development. 

Dogusan Z, Hooghe R, Verdood P, Hooghe-Peters EL Cytokine-like effects of prolactin in human mononuclear and polymorphonuclear leukocytes. J Neuroimmunol 2001 120 58-66. 

Table 1. Effect of prolactin inhibitor bromocriptine on the percent of... 

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