Greetings,

I was interested in thread about possibility of link between stress and
impaired MER.
May be this connection was first mentioned in dairy animals? My friend who
has a PhD (something with horse reproduction) knows a lot about horses.
She told me that horses can't let down when they don't see their foals.
Little one should be kept near his mother when she is being milked.

I did a quck  medline search, found some references

 cows
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11356286&dopt=Abstract

ewes
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11424682&dopt=Abstract

There is interesting article about rats - their responce to different
stressors/ Some of them do inhibit MER, some don't
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1641416&dopt=Abstract

      Physiol Behav. 1992 Jun;51(6):1157-63.
Effects of various stressors on milk release in the rat.

Lau C.

Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.

This study investigated the effect of four stimuli on milk release (MR),
namely, sound, nociception, novelty, and restraint. The role of the ensuing
adrenocortical response in the suppression of MR was also evaluated. Plasma
corticosterone (CORT) levels were measured at 0 (basal), 15, 30, and 60 min
during the suckling sessions to determine whether elevated CORT normally
associated with stress could be inhibitory to MR. Compared to nonstressed
lactators, dams exposed to sound demonstrated no suppression in MR, but a
significant increase in plasma CORT. Pain did not alter milk yield and
elevated CORT only at the end of the first hour of exposure. During novelty,
MR was suppressed and again CORT was only elevated at the end of the
sampling period. Restraint decreased milk yield and increased CORT. During
novelty, MR appeared to be regulated by an adrenal factor, which remains to
be identified. The peripheral opiates seem to be partially involved during
restraint. In conclusion, not all types of aversive stimuli interfere with
MR. Of those which do, different mechanisms seem to be implicated depending
upon the nature of the stressor. Furthermore, reduced MR during stress is
not a direct consequence of increased CORT.

And this is about women:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8041543&dopt=Abstract

      Obstet Gynecol. 1994 Aug;84(2):259-62.  Related Articles, Links


Influence of psychological stress on suckling-induced pulsatile oxytocin
release.

Ueda T, Yokoyama Y, Irahara M, Aono T.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Tokushima, School of
Medicine, Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of psychological stress on
suckling-induced oxytocin release. METHODS: The pulsatile release of
suckling-induced oxytocin was measured in 22 puerperal women. The blood
samples for oxytocin assay were collected at 2-minute intervals in a manner
that minimized degradation by plasma oxytocinase, and were used for
radioimmunoassay after extraction. RESULTS: The release of suckling-induced
oxytocin during nursing is pulsatile, with discrete, short pulses. The
frequency of pulsatile release of oxytocin was significantly lower in the
two groups in which stress was imposed by mental calculation or noise than
in the control group without stress (mental calculation group, 1.28 +/- 0.76
pulses/20-minute suckling period; noise group, 1.14 +/- 0.38; control group,
2.25 +/- 0.71). However, there were no differences among the three groups in
the increase of prolactin during nursing or in the milk yield. CONCLUSIONS:
The release of suckling-induced oxytocin is pulsatile, and psychological
stress reduces the pulsatile oxytocin release. Our data suggest that
suckling-induced oxytocin release may be modulated by the central nervous
system and that psychological relaxation is necessary for an adequate
let-down response.

Sincerely yours
Victoria Nesterova, breastfeeding supporter, Kiev, Ukraine

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html