FEMALE ANATOMY: PROLACTIN AND MENOPAUSE
Prolactin. Another hormone involved with reproduction is prolactin, which is made in the pituitary gland in the brain. It acts on breast tissue to stimulate milk production during late pregnancy and when a woman is breastfeeding. It also acts to interfere with the usual production of FSH and LH, so ovulation does not tend to happen when there is a lot of prolactin floating around the blood stream. This is how breastfeeding has a contraceptive effect. However, it is not always reliable, as occasionally ovulation can occur during breastfeeding, particularly if the feeding is not frequent and regular.
Occasionally a tumour in the pituitary gland may form, and produce excess prolactin (called a prolactinoma). This has the effect of stopping ovulation, and can therefore present as a disturbance in the menstrual cycle, and sometimes causes milk production in the breasts of a non-pregnant woman.
Menopause occurs when the ovaries don’t take notice of the FSH and LH from the brain, which are giving them the message to produce eggs. The ovaries slow down production of oestrogen and progesterone, and ovulation doesn’t occur. The relative lack of oestrogen can give rise to changes in other parts of the body, like the skin, bones and arteries.
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