Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Indirect Immunofluorescence on Frozen Sections of Mouse Mammary Gland
Published on: December 1, 2015
Mammary epithelial stem and progenitor cells and the prolactin pathway
1Department of Biological Sciences and the Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada. Shemanko@ucalgary.ca
Abstract:
Prolactin is a pleiotropic peptide hormone and cytokine that is secreted from the pituitary gland and locally within various tissues of the body for autocrine and paracrine signal transduction. It controls proliferation and differentiation in a number of body tissues and increasing evidence indicates that it controls these functions in undifferentiated stem and progenitor cells of adult tissues, such as mesenchymal stem cells, hematopoietic progenitors, neural stem cells, oligodendrocyte precursor cells and possibly in mammary gland stem/progenitor cells. These roles in these undifferentiated cell types also implicate prolactin in the stem cell theory of cancer, supporting its known roles in cancer formation and progression.
Related Concept Videos
The Mammary Glands
Each breast features a pigmented projection known as the nipple, through which milk emerges via closely spaced openings of ducts, referred to as lactiferous ducts. Surrounding the nipple is a circular pigmented area of skin named the areola, which appears rough due to...
Hormones of the Pituitary Gland
The most abundantly secreted hormone from the anterior lobe is the growth hormone, which controls overall growth by...
Stem Cell Niche
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
Renewal of Intestinal Stem Cells
Multipotency and Niche of Bulge Stem Cell

