Milk protein concentrations in galactorrhoeic mammary secretions

Milk protein concentrations were determined either by double antibody radioimmunoassay (IgA) or single radial immunodiffusion (IgG, lactoferrin, lysozyme and albumin) in the mammayr secretions of one nulliparous and three parous female patients with galactorrhoea due to hyperprolactinaemia. Concentrations of all the proteins studied were found to be similar to the concentrations observed in post-partum colostrum. In particular, secretory IgA was the only form of IgA detected in galactorrhoeic secretions. It is suggested that hyperprolactinaemia alone can result in increased mammary synthesis of the milk proteins since the steroid changes associated with a full-term pregnancy and delivery of the placenta did not immediately precede the galactorrhoea in three of the four patients studied.