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prolactin

·October 3, 2025·5 min read

Motherhood Flips Brain Switch That Triggers Aggression

Researchers discovered that female mice gain access to aggression after giving birth through a brain circuit usually dormant in non-pregnant females.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 21, 2022·4 min read

Hormone Found to Regulate Mothers’ Behavior

Prolactin, a hormone responsible for milk production in mothers, reduces a mother's investment in aggressive behaviors and helps to increase protective behaviors.

This shows an old record on a record player

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 17, 2021·4 min read

Why Sad Songs Make Us Feel Good

Researchers explore the psychological and neurobiological basis of why listening to sad music often makes us feel good and lifts our spirits.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 29, 2020·4 min read

Breastfeeding helps prevent mothers from developing diabetes after childbirth

Women who breastfeed have a reduced risk of developing diabetes, a new study reports. In mouse models, lactation improved glucose tolerance and increased beta-cell mass three weeks post-delivery. Prolactin produced as a result of lactation induced serotonin production of beta cells. Findings suggest serotonin mediates the long-term beneficial effects of lactation of female metabolic health by increasing beta-cell proliferation and reducing oxidative stress in beta-cells.

This is a drawing of a mouse breastfeeding

Featured Neuroscience

·March 23, 2020·1 min read

Lactation changes how mom’s neurons communicate, but it’s reversible

During lactation, the cell voltage of TIDA neurons in the hypothalamus oscillates more frequently, increasing firing. The change is reversible and returns to normal once the mother stops lactating.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·March 4, 2020·3 min read

Hormone that causes women to experience more pain than men identified

Researchers report the hormone prolactin, more commonly associated with lactation in new mothers, may underlie why women are more vulnerable to developing functional pain syndromes than men.