Abstract
ABSTRACT The effect of suckling and breast stimulation on plasma prolactin measured by homologous radioimmunoassay has been studied in nursing women, in normal, nonlactating women and men, in chlorpromazine treated women, in pregnant women, and in women with galactorrhea. Nursing women had increased plasma prolactin before nursing during the first 6 weeks postpartum; mean prolactin rose rapidly throughout the period of suckling and reached a peak 8.5 times the baseline value just after the termination of nursing. Women studied between 7 and 28 weeks postpartum had normal prolactin levels before nursing; with suckling they had smaller but significant elevations, averaging 6.0 times the baseline value at the end of nursing. When nursing women were allowed to play with but not nurse their infants, prolactin did not rise in spite of the occurrence of milk let-down. Substitution of a breast pump for the infant at a regular period of nursing caused prolactin elevations similar in timing and in magnitude to thos...
Published Version
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