PLASMA CONCENTRATIONS OF PROLACTIN AND THYROTROPHIN DURING SUCKLING: EFFECTS OF STIMULATION OF THE MEDIAN EMINENCE

in Journal of Endocrinology
Authors:
J. B. WAKERLEY
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M. B. TER HAAR
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A.R.C. Institute of Animal Physiology, Babraham, Cambridge, CB2 4AT

(Received 1 November 1977)

Thyrotrophin releasing hormone (TRH) can have a stimulatory effect on the release of both prolactin and thyrotrophin (TSH; Deis & Alonso, 1973), although in the rat, supraphysiological doses of TRH are required to affect the secretion of prolactin (Burnet & Wakerley, 1976). A more important factor in the control of the release of prolactin is considered to be prolactin release inhibiting factor (PIF), which is thought to act through the catecholamine, dopamine (MacLeod, 1976). Stimuli which cause the concomitant release of TSH and prolactin are thought to have a direct effect at the hypothalamic level such that neurones releasing TRH are excited, whereas those releasing PIF are inhibited. In the present work, we have tested this hypothesis using the suckling stimulus to elicit the simultaneous release of prolactin and TSH (Blake, 1974; Burnet & Wakerley, 1976). If

 

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