ABSTRACT
Adenohypophysial prolactin of lactating rats was pulse-labelled by [3H]leucine injected i.v. at the time of removal of the pups. The [3H]prolactin concentration in the pituitary gland, analysed by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, progressively fell as the time from labelling to removal of the pituitary gland increased from 8 to 24 h, which suggests that there was a loss of hormone as it aged within the gland. Suckling effectively provoked the depletion–transformation of total and [3H]prolactin (extracted at pH 7·2) when applied after 8 h but not when applied after either 16 or 24 h after removing the pups.
In rats whose pups were removed for 8 h, suckling also depleted–transformed [3H]prolactin labelled 4 h, but not that labelled 1 h before suckling. The pituitary glands of other lactating rats were labelled with [3H]leucine injected i.v. at various times before removing the glands and incubating them in medium 199. The secretion into the medium of [3H]prolactin labelled either 4, 8, 16 or 24 h beforehand was maximal during the first 30 min then declined from 30 to 240 min of incubation. However, secretion of prolactin labelled 1 h and 10 min beforehand reached a maximum after 0·5–1 h and 2 h of incubation respectively, then remained constant during the remainder of the 4-h incubation period. The total 4-h secretion of [3H]prolactin was greatest (65% of preincubation concentration) from those glands labelled 4 h before in contrast to those labelled 10 min (15%) or 1 (38%), 8 (34%), 16 (18%) or 24 h (26%) before incubation. Taken together, these data suggest that prolactin synthesized 4 h earlier is more likely to be released in response to physiological stimuli than is more recently formed prolactin or prolactin which has remained in the pituitary gland for 16 h or longer.
J. Endocr. (1984) 101, 27–32
In vitro changes of serum lipoproteins by polyacrylamide gel disk electrophoresis.
