Influência da fase do ciclo estral sobre a secreção de prolactina induzida por estresse agudo em ratas nulíparas e primíparas

Abstract

Prolactin is the hormone classically related to the development of the mammary glands during pregnancy and postpartum milk production. The release of this adenohypophyseal hormone may be affected by stress, thus resulting in increased production. Physiological factors such as reproductive experience, sum of pregnancy, childbirth and lactation, and the stage of the estrous cycle also has an action on prolactin secretion, reducing its serum concentration. In previous studies, we observed that the reproductive experience is able to modulate the release of prolactin in response to acute stress and that this fact is related to the type of stress applied in rats. In this context, the objective of this work is to study the influence of the estrous cycle on serum prolactin concentrations during the first hour of acute stress induction in primiparous and nulliparous rats.