Word: prolactin
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...Riddle and his associates at the Carnegie Institution's station for experimental evolution on Long Island obtained in almost pure form the same pituitary substance which had made Ehrhardt's monkey act like a mother. Because it was a stimulant of milk secretion this substance was called prolactin...
...Prolactin was found to induce mammary activity in virgin and castrated female and even in male animals; it induced parental behavior in birds and rats; it increased the basal metabolism (heat production) ; it seemed to affect carbohydrate metabolism through the adrenal glands; it caused growth of liver and intestines; it increased the blood's sugar content; and it inhibited the sex glands, causing pigeons' ovaries to stop producing ova and to reabsorb those already formed, and the testes of males to shrink. This last effect, in Dr. Riddle's opinion, was exerted indirectly-by blocking release...
...Riddle recently pointed out that no one could be sure which hormones or how many are secreted by the pituitary gland. So long as there was a possibility that his prolactin, no matter how highly concentrated, contained traces of other hormones, he could not be sure whether he was dealing with one substance or several...
Riddle admitted that the question was open until prolactin was completely purified...
...Other female sex hormones include estrin from the ovaries; prolactin from the pituitary; progostin from the corpus luteum...