• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.301-307
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• 2005

Purpose: To investigate changes in mother's stress, degree of depression and level of milk secretion hormones when the mothers provided massage to their new born babies. Method: The study was conducted with 65 women who had delivered at a convalescence institute in Incheon between Sep 25, 2003 and Feb 10, 2004. The mothers were assigned to a control group or an experimental group. Infants of mothers in the experimental group received massage from their mothers twice a day for 10 days beginning on the 4th day after delivery. The data were processed using $x^2-test$, paired t-test and repeated measures ANOVA using the SAS program. Results: The level of cortisol, a stress hormone and depression were significantly different between the two groups (p=0.01 ;p=0.02). While fur plasma prolactin level, a milk secretion hormone, there was no significant difference(p=0.14). Conclusions: When massage was provided to new-born babies the cortisol level of the mothers decreased significantly compared to the control group which did not receive the massage. As the level of depression of the control group declined as time passed while the experiment group showed no difference and there was no difference in the plasma prolactin level, further study is suggested.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.181-187
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• 2001

Seasonal changes and circadian rhythm of plasma prolactin(PRL) concentration in mammals are mediated by melatonin. Pinealectomy or denervation of the pineal gland produces an increase in plasma PRL level. In the rat placenta several members of the PRL family gene are expressed during the late pregnancy. However, the full spectrum of their expression mechanisms and regulatory factors are not elucidated yet. Present study aimed to investigate the local expression of the melatonin receptor la(Me $l_{la}$ ) gene and the effect of melatonin on expression of prolactin-like protein A(PLP-A), a member of the PRL-family gene in the rat placenta. According to the RT-PCR, northern blot and in situ hybridization experiments, Me $l_{la}$ gene was locally expressed in the rat placenta, Me $l_{la}$ mRNA was localized mainly in the placental junctional and labyrinth zones. Interestingly, junctional zone of the placenta showed strong expression of Me $l_{la}$ at daytime(16:00) than at nighttime(22:00). Melatonin agonist, chlorornelatonin decreased the PLP-A mRNA levels in the rat placenta. These results suggest that melatonin coupled with Me $l_{la}$ , may act as a regulation factor that mediates the expression of the PLP-A gene in the rat placenta.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.177-185
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• 2003

Object:We investigated the relationship between prolactin response to antipsychotics and clinical courses of psychotic symptoms and DAT gene polymorphisms. Method:Twenty-four acute psychotic inpatients completed the 12-week trial of risperidone. Serum prolactin, BPRS, ESRS and hyperprolactinemia-related symptoms were measured at baseline, 2, 4, 8 and 12 weeks after medication. The DAT gene polymorphisms were analyzed. Results:The serum prolactin was significantly increased over time. According to the prolactin level at 2-week, the subjects were divided into the severe group(serum prolactin>60ng/mL, N=15) and the mild group (serum prolactin<60ng/mL, N=9). The prolactin levels of the mild group didn't increase beyond 60ng/mL throughout 12 weeks. Severe group had slower decrement of BPRS scores than those of mild group. Six females in severe group complained of irregular menstruations, but no female in mild group. Most patients had 10 allele of DAT gene. Conclusion:This study suggests that the magnitude of prolactin elevation at the 2-week of risperidone medication is correlated with severity of hyperprolactinemia throughout treatments. Our results did not show the relationship between prolactin responses and DAT gene polymorphisms.