BACKGROUND The accepted function of the hypothalamic peptide, thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH), is to initiate release of thyrotrophin (TSH) from the pituitary. A physiological role for TRH in lactating rats has not yet been established. METHODS Tissues were prepared from random-cycling and lactating rats and analysed using Northern blot, real time RT-PCR and quantitative in situ hybridis...

Twenty-four dual purpose (wool/meat) suckling and early weaned ram lambs were used to study the fatty acid profile in intramuscular fat of longissimus lumborum muscle and lipid oxidation in blood serum. At 60 days of age 12 rams were slaughtered as suckling lambs. The other 12 early weaned and fed according to standards by grass hay and concentrate, and slaughtered at 90 days of age. Suckling l...

Increases in plasma lipids occur during hypoxia in suckling but not in weaned rats and may result from altered hepatic enzyme activity. We exposed rats to 7 days of hypoxia from birth to 7 days of age (suckling) or from 28 to 35 days of age (weaned at day 21). Hypoxia led to an increase in hepatic lipid content in the suckling rat only. Hepatic lipase was decreased to approximately 45% of contr...

Suckling induces a GH surge simultaneously to that of prolactin, so we tested whether salsolinol, a dopamine derivative (1-methyl-6,7-dihydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline), participates in the regulatory process of GH secretion in lactating sheep. A series of intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) infusions of salsolinol, in two doses, was performed in nursing sheep, without suckling, during the ...

This study is the first to describe quantitatively the apparent suckling behavior of sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758), calves using observations from both above and below the surface. Peduncle dives are short (mean 14 s) dives made by sperm whale calves beside the peduncle of an adult female, which were previously assumed to be indicative of suckling. Photo-identification an...

The DNA hybridization assay employing a 460-base-pair fragment of DNA encoding for the methanol-insoluble form of heat-stable toxin (ST-II) was used to determine the prevalence of ST-II enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) in pigs, people, and water at 57 farms in Sri Racha, Thailand. ST-II ETEC was found in 62 (3%) of 2,110 suckling, 181 (32%) of 560 weaned, and 4 (1%) of 457 adult pigs exa...

Yu-Feng Wang Pulsatile release of hormones and neurotransmitters is widespread in mammals and typical of oxytocin secretion during lactation. Sucklingevoked pulsatile release of oxytocin follows a transient activation of hypothalamic oxytocin neurons in a burst-like firing pattern and leads to a bolus release of oxytocin and milk ejections. Prostaglandin (PG), a nonhormonal messenger cytokine, ...

The geniohyoid muscle (GH) is a critical suprahyoid muscle in most mammalian oropharyngeal motor activities. We used sonomicrometry to evaluate regional strain (i.e., changes in length) in the muscle origin, belly, and insertion during suckling in infant pigs, and compared the results to existing information on strain heterogeneity in the hyoid musculature. We tested the hypothesis that during ...

Bingham, P., Ashikaga, T. & Abbasi, S. (2010). Prospective study of non-nutritive sucking and feeding skills in premature infants. Archives of Disease in Childhood, Fetal Neonatal Edition, 95(3): F 194-200. Kirk, A., Alder, S. & King, J. (2007). Cue-based oral feeding clinical pathway results in earlier attainment of full oral feeding in premature infants. Journal of Perinatology, 27: 572-578. ...

There are a limited number of artistic objects from ancient times with particular importance in neonatal medicine. The best examples are figurines from ancient Egypt of Isis nursing Horus, showing the importance of breastfeeding. The earliest images of the human fetus were made by the Olmecs in Mexico around 1200- 400 BCE. One of the earliest representations of congenital anomalies is a figurin...