Abstract
Prolactin is synthesized and secreted by a morphologically and functionally distinct group of cells in the pituitary gland. The relative abundance and secretory activity of the mammotrophic cells is highly influenced by the prevailing endocrine milieu. Various lines of evidence indicate that estrogen is a major regulator of prolactin synthesis and secretion. In female rats, the sharp rise in serum prolactin levels at puberty and the cyclic release of prolactin is associated with the preovulatory surge of estradiol (1, 2). Administration of estrogen to prepubertal rats leads to increased serum levels of prolactin (3,4). Treatment of rats with estrogens was shown to result in increased pituitary DNA synthesis (5–8), hyperplasia and hypertrophy of mammotrophs (9), increased incorporation of radiolabeled precursors into prolactin (7, 10, 11), and increased cellular content of prolactin messenger RNA (12, 13).
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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York
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Lieberman, M.E., Maurer, R.A., Claude, P., Wiklund, J., Wertz, N., Gorski, J. (1982). Regulation of Pituitary Growth and Prolactin Gene Expression by Estrogen. In: Leavitt, W.W. (eds) Hormones and Cancer. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 138. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7192-6_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7192-6_9
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