BACKGROUND Breastfeeding behaviour is multifactorial, and a wide range of socio-cultural and physiological variables impact on a woman's decision and ability to breastfeed successfully. An association has been reported between maternal obesity and low breastfeeding rates. This is of public health concern because obesity is rising in women of reproductive age and the apparent association with in...

BACKGROUND The timely onset of stage II lactogenesis (OL) is important for successful breastfeeding and newborn health. Several risk factors for delayed OL are common in women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), which may affect their chances for successful breastfeeding outcomes. OBJECTIVE We investigated the prevalence and risk factors associated with delayed OL in a raci...

Prolactin (PRL) is a hormone mainly secreted by the anterior pituitary. Recent studies have shown that it may also be produced by many extrapituitary cells. The PRL gene expression is controlled by two independent promoter regions, which may be differentially regulated in the pituitary and extrapituitary organs. Proteolytic modifications of PRL generate variants of the hormone. A16 kDa PRL frag...

Since the report by Yang et al. (11) that carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons as a group bear steric resemblances to steroid hormones, there has been considerable interest in the effect of these compounds on the adrenals, gonads, and pituitary. Huggins and Morii (5) found that DMBA induced adrenal ne crosis and hemorrhage when fed to adult rats. There have been conflicting reports on...

Transient hypoglycemia in the early neonatal period is a common adaptive phenomenon as the newborn changes from the fetal state of continuous transplacental glucose consumption to intermittent nutrient supply following cessation of maternal nutrition at birth. Research has demonstrated that in the term, healthy newborn, this dynamic process is self-limiting and is not considered pathologic. The...

BACKGROUND Lactogenesis includes two stages. Stage I begins a few weeks before parturition. Stage II is initiated around the time of parturition and extends for several days afterwards. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To better understand the molecular events underlying these changes, genome-wide gene expression profiling was conducted using digital gene expression (DGE) on bovine mammary tiss...

Expression of insulin receptor substrates (IRS)-1 and -2 within the mammary gland was found to be high at mid-lactation and dramatically decreased with mammary involution. This observation supports the hypothesis that these proteins are induced in the mammary gland with lactogenesis and involved in normal milk synthesis. To test this hypothesis, lactation capacity, along with indices of mammary...

It is generally accepted that hormones and tissue growth factors are supplied from mother to neonate via mammary secretion. Among the protein hormones, insulin and prolactin are considered as the most important milk components for neonates. The significance of the thyroid hormones, namely triiodothyronine (T3) generated locally by 5'-monodeiodinase (5'-MD) in the mammary tissues, for the mammar...

Delay in the onset of lactogenesis has been shown to occur in women who are obese, however the mechanism altered within the mammary gland causing the delay remains unknown. Consumption of high fat diets (HFD) has been previously determined to result decreased litters and litter numbers in rodent models due to a decrease in fertility. We examined the effects of feeding a HFD (60% kcal from fat) ...