**Acknowledgement**

Publication of this work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 81171138).

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**Chapter 6** 

© 2013 Mena et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2013 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

**Autocrine and Paracrine Regulation** 

**and by Hypothalamic Hormones** 

Flavio Mena, Nilda Navarro and Alejandra Castilla

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51681

**1. Introduction** 

**of Prolactin Secretion by Prolactin Variants** 

The synthesis and release of prolactin (PRL) by lactotrophs in the anterior pituitary (AP) are regulated by factors produced in the hypothalamus as well as in the posterior and neurointermediate pituitary lobes, by autocrine and paracrine signals from the anterior pituitary itself (Ben-Jonathan & Hnasko, 2001; Kordon, 1985; Denef, 1988; Denef, 2008; Freeman et al., 2000; Lorenson and Walker, 2001; Schwartz & Cherny, 1992; Schwartz, 2000; Wang & Walker, 1993; Sinha, 1992; Sinha 1995; Moore et al., 2002; Bollengier et al., 1989; Bollengier et al., 1996; Kadowaki et al., 1984; MacLeod et al., 1966; Sgouris & Meites, 1953; Chen et al., 1968; Welsch et al., 1968) and also by gonadal steroids (Maurer & Gorski, 1977; Maurer, 1982). In addition, it has been reported that total PRL and PRL variants (Denef, 2008; Shah & Hymer, 1989) are secreted under different physiological conditions (Denef, 2008; Wang & Walker, 1993; Sinha, 1992; Sinha 1995; Mena et al., 1984; Mena et al., 1992; Boockfor & Frawley, 1987). And, it is known that functional interactions and cytological differences exist among pituitary lactotrophs within the anterior pituitary gland (Denef, 1988; Schwartz & Cherny, 1992; Schwartz, 2000; Boockfor & Frawley, 1987) and that functional variations (Boockfor & Frawley, 1987; Boockfor et al., 1986; Frawley & Boockfor, 1991; Nagy & Frawley 1990), as well as autoregulation (Nagy et al., 1991) and interactions with other pituitary cells (Denef, 2008; Sinha, 1992; Moore et al., 2002; Kadowaki et al., 1984) and with hypothalamic hormones (Ben-Jonathan & Hnasko, 2001; Chen et al., 1968) occur in different circumstances. For instance, lactotrophs from the central AP region of lactating rats, i.e., the region surrounding the neurointermediate pituitary lobe (Boockfor & Frawley, 1987; Frawley & Boockfor, 1991; Papka et al., 1986) are bigger, secrete more PRL than those of the peripheral AP region and after a short period of suckling become more sensitive to the PRL-stimulatory agents, TRH and angiotensin II; moreover, they become unresponsive

