Recombinant Rat PRL

Prolactin (PRL) or Luteotropic hormone (LTH) is best known as the pituitary modulator of lactation and reproduction.¹ Prolactin is a multifaceted hormone that is capable of modulating hundreds of physiological processes in adult vertebrates.² PRL promotes proliferation, survival and migration of cancer cells acting via the prolactin receptor (PRLR).³ It also modulates maternal behavior and mediates hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis inhibition during lactation via PRL receptors in the brain.⁴ Prolactin also has a number of other effects including contributing to surfactant synthesis of the fetal lungs at the end of the pregnancy and immune tolerance of the fetus by the maternal organism during pregnancy. It also decreases normal levels of sex hormones — estrogen in women and testosterone in men.⁵ Pituitary prolactin secretion is regulated by neuroendocrine neurons in the hypothalamus, the most important ones being the neurosecretory dopamine neurons of the arcuate nucleus, which inhibit prolactin secretion. Thyrotropin-releasing factor has a stimulatory effect on prolactin release.