Abstract
Prolactin, a peptide hormone in pituitary glands, shows a remarkable increase in amount in both plasma and amniotic fluid during pregnancy. In the plasma of the pregnant female, there is a rectilineal relationship between the increase of a measurable amount of prolactin and the progress of gestation. The highest level of amniotic prolactin is observed between the 15th and the 17th week of pregnancy.
The production site as well as the function of prolactin during pregnancy have been disputed.
In the present paper, the authors describe the production and localization of prolactin materializing tissues of human placenta and decidua in early pregnancy (from the 7th to the 9th week after last menstruation) obtained by either hysterectomy or curette. Immunohistological investigations revealed that syncytial trophoblast is a production site of prolactin.
Prolactin was recognized in decidua tissue which does not produce but only deposits the prolactin.
By a method of double staining, the production and localization of either beta-subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG-β) or human placental lactogen (hPL) were manifestatively differentiated from that of prolactin in syncytial trophoblast.
