Relaxin and the 'Milky Way': The lactocrine hypothesis and maternal programming of development.
Mol Cell Endocrinol
; 487: 18-23, 2019 05 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30629990
Maternal effects on early postnatal development in mammals are mediated, in part, by milk-borne bioactive factors transmitted from mother to nursing offspring. The term 'lactocrine' was coined to describe this mode of signaling. Relaxin (RLX), one of a family of neohormones found in mammals, is detectable in milk from multiple species. In the pig, evidence of bioactive proRLX in colostrum/milk, immunoreactive RLX in the circulation of nursed neonates, and RLX receptor expression in RLX-sensitive neonatal female reproductive tract tissues, established RLX as a prototypical lactocrine-active factor. Observations provided the foundation for the lactocrine hypothesis for maternal programming of postnatal development. Studies designed to test the lactocrine hypothesis provided insights into both short-term effects of milk-borne bioactive factors in the neonate, and long-term consequences of maternal lactocrine programming of endometrial function and fecundity in adults. Thus, RLX led to the 'Milky Way'.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Relaxin
/
Signal Transduction
/
Embryonic Development
/
Models, Biological
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Mol Cell Endocrinol
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
Ireland