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Effect of prolactin on maintenance of prelactating human mammary gland in vitro

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Summary

Human mammary tissue from a female at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy was studied in organ culture in a chemically defined medium. Sampling was carried out at 1, 2 and 3 weeks. Without hormones, there was nearly total lobuloalveolar degeneration inall specimens at all times. Addition of insulin, hydrocortisone and ovine prolactin, in combination at a concentration of 5 µg per ml each, did not affect the extent of degeneration. Raising the concentration of prolactin to 50 µg per ml resulted in greatly improved lobulo-alveolar maintenance inall specimens and continued epithelial cell DNA synthesis for up to 3 weeks in vitro.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Medicine (Subsection of Dermatology) and Pathology, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Avenue, 02906, Providence, Rhode Island

    B. A. Flaxman, J. Dyckman & A. Feldman

  2. Brown University, 02906, Providence, Rhode Island

    B. A. Flaxman & A. Feldman

Authors
  1. B. A. Flaxman
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  2. J. Dyckman
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  3. A. Feldman
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This work was supported by grant no. CA11536 from the National Cancer Institute.

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Flaxman, B.A., Dyckman, J. & Feldman, A. Effect of prolactin on maintenance of prelactating human mammary gland in vitro. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Plant 12, 467–471 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02806027

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