Prolactin Receptors in the Brain during Pregnancy and Lactation: Implications for Behavior

doi:10.1006/hbeh.2001.1698

Hormones and Behavior

Volume 40, Issue 2, September 2001, Pages 115-124

https://doi.org/10.1006/hbeh.2001.1698 Get rights and content

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented prolactin regulation of a variety of brain functions, including maternal behavior, regulation of oxytocin neurons, regulation of feeding and appetite, suppression of ACTH secretion in response to stress, and suppression of fertility. We have observed marked changes in expression of prolactin receptors in specific hypothalamic nuclei during pregnancy and lactation. This has important implications for neuronal functions regulated by prolactin. In light of the high circulating levels of prolactin during pregnancy and lactation and the increased expression of prolactin receptors in the hypothalamus, many of these functions may be enhanced or exaggerated in the maternal brain. The adaptations of the maternal brain allow the female to exhibit the appropriate behavior to feed and nurture her offspring, to adjust to the nutritional and metabolic demands of milk production, and to maintain appropriate hormone secretion to allow milk synthesis, secretion, and ejection. This review aims to summarize the evidence that prolactin plays a key role in regulating hypothalamic function during lactation and to discuss the hypothesis that the overall role of prolactin is to organize and coordinate this wide range of behavioral and neuroendocrine adaptations during pregnancy and lactation.

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¹: Present address: Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Kansas University Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, KS 66160.

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Regular ArticleProlactin Receptors in the Brain during Pregnancy and Lactation: Implications for Behavior

Abstract

Psychoneuroendocrinology

Physiol. Behav.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Brain Res. Bull.

Horm. Behav.

FEBS Lett.

Brain Res.

Neuron

Front. Neuroendocrinol.

Brain Res.

J. Nutr.

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Physiol. Behav.

J. Biol. Chem.

J. Biol. Chem.

Mol. Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Neuron

Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Neuroscience

Dissociation of prolactin secretion from tuberoinfundibular dopamine activity in late pregnant rats

Endocrinology

The responsiveness of tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neurons to prolactin feedback is diminished between early lactation and midlactation in the rat

Endocrinology

Prolactin (PRL) receptors are colocalized in dopaminergic neurons in fetal hypothalamic cell cultures: Effect of PRL on tyrosine hydroxylase activity

Endocrinology

Atlas of the neurons that express mRNA for the long form of the prolactin receptor in the forebrain of the female rat

J. Comp. Neurol.

Involvement of SOC-1, the suppressor of cytokine signaling, in the prevention of prolactin-responsive gene expression in decidual cells

Mol. Endocrinol.

Rescue of preimplantatory egg development in prolactin receptor-deficient mice after progesterone administration

Endocrinology

Prolactin (PRL) and its receptor: Actions, signal transduction pathways and phenotypes observed in PRL receptor knockout mice

Endocr. Rev.

The role of lactogenic hormones in maternal behavior in female rats

Acta Paediatr. Suppl.

Hypothalamic involvement in the regulation of maternal behavior in the rat: Inhibitory roles for the ventromedial hypothalamus and the dorsal/anterior hypothalamic areas

J. Neuroendocrinol.

Central lactogenic regulation of maternal behavior in rats: Steroid dependence, hormone specificity, and behavioral potencies of rat prolactin and rat placental lactogen I

Endocrinology

Endocrine communication between conceptus and mother: Placental lactogen stimulation of maternal behavior

Neuroendocrinology

Changes in properties and neurosteroid regulation of GABAergic synapses in the supraoptic nucleus during the mammalian female reproductive cycle

J. Physiol.

Changes in GABAA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in oxytocin neurons during female reproduction: Plasticity in a neuroendocrine context

Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.

Prolactin receptor mRNA localization in the hypothalamus by in situ hybridization

J. Neuroendocrinol.

Neurotransmitter and neurohormonal regulation of oxytocin secretion in lactation

Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci.

Prolactin receptors in the rat hypothalamus: Autoradiographic localization and characterization

Neuroendocrinology

Transduction of prolactin's (PRL) growth signal through both long and short forms of the PRL receptor

Mol. Endocrinol.

Biochemical indices of tuberoinfundibular dopaminergic neuronal activity during lactation: A lack of response to prolactin

Neuroendocrinology

Prolactin stimulates food intake in a dose-dependent manner

Am. J. Physiol.

Regular Article
Prolactin Receptors in the Brain during Pregnancy and Lactation: Implications for Behavior