Control of oxytocin secretion in lactation

Abstract

The most established physiological function of oxytocin is to induce milk ejection from the mammary gland of lactating animals. It is now known that during lactation oxytocin is released pulsatively following brief periods of burst-like and synchronous activation of many thousands of oxytocin cells in the hypothalamus. The mechanism generating such activity in oxytocin cells has been extensively studied, but it has not been fully understood yet. To explain that suckling stimuli produce a recurrence of milk ejection bursts of oxytocin cells without any change in their background activity, a gating mechanism has been hypothesized. In the excitatory transmission of afferent signals of the milk ejection reflex, alpha adrenergic receptors are indicated to be involved. Among neuropeptides, oxytocin and CRF are potent facilitatory factors. As non-neurochemical factors that facilitate milk ejection bursts of oxytocin cells, there are osmotic stimuli, neurohypophyseal stimulation and vaginal distention. During the lactation period, responsiveness of oxytocin cells to various stimuli such as stress, osmotic stimuli and CCK is markedly reduced. The cause of the change has not been discovered, but it is assumed that the reduction in responsiveness may enable the animal to adapt to the large demands for the hormone during the lactation period.