Abstract
Metoclopramide has been shown to increase milk production in humans. We investigated the daily milk production, the prolactin (PRL) and dopamine (DA) concentrations of the milk in mothers with (treated) or without (control) metoclopramide treatment (5 days, 30 mg/ day). Both groups consisted of 11 mothers and their full-term newborn infants.
The daily milk production was significantly higher in the treated group (276.4±36.6 vs 150.9±25.3 ml/day, p<0.01). The PRL measured by RIA was similar in the milk samples of the metoclopramide treated and control groups (80.5±17.7 vs 90.7±27.3 ng/ml). The DA concentration in milk samples of treated mothers was significantly lower compared to the value of the control group (0.23±0.04 vs 0.41±0.07 pg/l, p<0.05). On the 5th postnatal day the level of serum PRL and DA of the newborns of mothers treated with metoclopramide did not differ from the values of the control babies, indicating that the amount of metoclopramide transferred into the milk has no apparent influence on the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis of the neonate.
Since the concentration of DA decreased in the milk of mothers treated with the DA receptor blocking agent metoclopramide|we suppose that the DA secretion into the milk is a receptor mediated process.
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Ertl, T., Sulyok, E. & Hartmann, G. DOPAMINE AND PROLACTIN CONTENT OF THE HUMAN MILK. Pediatr Res 32, 617 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199211000-00073
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199211000-00073