Description
Prolactin is a lactogenic hormone secreted by the adenohypophysis. Besides its major action on lactation, in some species prolactin exerts effects on reproduction, maternal behavior, fat metabolism, immunomodulation and osmoregulation. Prolactin has also been shown to have cytokine-like activities and to have important immunoregulatory activities. It contributes to the development of lymphoid tissues and the maintenance of physiological immune function and also modulates a variety of T-cell immune responses. Prolactin has been reported to activate cellular proliferation in nonreproductive tissue, such as liver, spleen and thymus. It induces significant proliferation in aortic smooth muscle cells and also enhances proliferation of these cells induced by PDGF. Prolactin also appears to be directly mitogenic for pancreatic beta cells as well as cultured astrocytes. Recombinant human Prolactin produced in E. coli is a single, non- glycosylated polypeptide chain of 200 amino acids and a molecular mass of 23,007 Dalton