Physiology of Human Female Lactation

CHAPTER 1: Introduction.

1.1 Brief history of research on the physiology of female lactation and breastfeeding.




CHAPTER 2: Origin and development of the breast.

2.1.The origin of the breast.


2.2 Breast development.

2.2.1 Prenatal development of the breast.

2.2,2 Development and functioning of the breast in the first two years of life.

2.2.3 Breast development during puberty.

2.2.4 Development and functioning of the breast of a mature woman.



2.2.5 Development and functioning of the breast during pregnancy.

CHAPTER 3: Structure of the lactating breast.3.1 Structure of the alveolar-ductal system.




3.1.1 Alveolus.

3.1.2. The basement membrane.

3.1.3 Ductal system of the breast.

3.1.4. Stromal environment of the alveolar duct system.

3.2 The circulatory system of the breast.

3.3. The lymphatic system of the breast.

3.4. Innervation of the breast.3.4.1 The external afferent receptors of the breast.



3.4.2 Afferent receptors of internal structures of the breast.

3.5 The muscular system of the breast.

CHAPTER 4: Breast function during the initial period of lactation (lactogenesis I and II).

4.1. Beginning of lactation (lactogenesis I).


4.2. The establishment of lactation (lactogenesis II).

4.2.1 Rooting reflex of the child.4.2.2 Infant's milk ejection reflex.



4.2.3 Mother's milk ejection reflex.



4.2.4 Maternal reflex of milk secretion.

CHAPTER 5: The period of established lactation (lactogenesis III).

5.1 Composition and dynamics of mature milk.

5.2. Productivity of lactation.

5.2.1 Effect of prolactin on the volume of secreted milk.5.2.2 Effect of oxytocin on the volume of secreted milk.



5.2.3. Galactogogues.

5.2.4. Effects of breast pump use on milk productivity.



5.3 Postlactational involution of the mammary gland.

Prof. Alekseev Nikolay Petrovitch, Department of General Physiology, Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

Research interests: role of sensory systems in the regulation of lactation, as well as the development of breast pump for women, working on the physiological principles of milk ejection.

The author works together with D.O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductology, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, on the physiology of women's lactation.He is the author of 192 articles and two books on sensory physiology and lactation physiology.