A seminal study in 2007 introduced the hypothesis that an antiangiogenic prolactin fragment with a molecular mass of 16 kDa is a key pathological mediator of peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) (1). The study reported that this fragment is enzymatically generated by the cleavage of full-length prolactin with the lysosomal aspartyl protease cathepsin D. Upon excessive generation, possibly due to hi...

Nitric oxide synthase-containing cells were visualized in the anterior pituitary gland by immunocytochemistry. Consequently, we began an evaluation of the possible role of NO in the control of anterior pituitary function. Prolactin is normally under inhibitory hypothalamic control, and in vitro the gland secretes large quantities of the hormone. When hemipituitaries were incubated for 30 min in...

The pituitary gland is known as the master gland because it controls the release of hormones that affect diverse processes including growth, metabolism and fertility. Many of the genes necessary for normal development and function of the specialized hormone producing cells of the anterior pituitary lobe have been identified (Dasen and Rosenfeld, 2001; WatkinsChow and Camper, 1998) The key genes...

Under physiological conditions, PRL secretion is regulated precisely by various stimulating and inhibiting factors. Hyperprolactinemia may arise as a primary consequence of a PRL-secreting pituitary adenoma. Secondary hyperprolactinemia (SH) may emerge in patients with hypothalamic disease, hypophyseal stalk compression, or suprasellar extension of a (nonlactotrope) pituitary adenoma. The latte...

Hypophysiotropic peptides are those, that released from hypothalamus, control the secretion of pituitary hormones. This review will discuss the different steps involved in regulating the amount of active peptide that reaches its target. Regulatory mechanisms participating in gene expression and post-transcriptional events, release, inactivation, and receptor binding will be analyzed for CRH and...