Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Reproduction and environment
- 2 Genetic damage and male reproduction
- 3 The microenvironment in health and cancer of the mammary gland
- 4 The energetic cost of physical activity and the regulation of reproduction
- 5 Energetic cost of gestation and lactation in humans
- 6 Adaptive maternal, placental and fetal responses to nutritional extremes in the pregnant adolescent: lessons from sheep
- 7 Growth and sexual maturation in human and non-human primates: a brief review
- 8 The evolution of post-reproductive life: adaptationist scenarios
- 9 Analysing the characteristics of the menstrual cycle in field situations in humans: some methodological aspects
- 10 An insidious burden of disease: the pathological role of sexually transmitted diseases in fertility
- 11 Family planning and unsafe abortion
- 12 Global sexual and reproductive health: responding to the needs of adolescents
- 13 Understanding reproductive decisions
- Index
- References
3 - The microenvironment in health and cancer of the mammary gland
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 May 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- 1 Reproduction and environment
- 2 Genetic damage and male reproduction
- 3 The microenvironment in health and cancer of the mammary gland
- 4 The energetic cost of physical activity and the regulation of reproduction
- 5 Energetic cost of gestation and lactation in humans
- 6 Adaptive maternal, placental and fetal responses to nutritional extremes in the pregnant adolescent: lessons from sheep
- 7 Growth and sexual maturation in human and non-human primates: a brief review
- 8 The evolution of post-reproductive life: adaptationist scenarios
- 9 Analysing the characteristics of the menstrual cycle in field situations in humans: some methodological aspects
- 10 An insidious burden of disease: the pathological role of sexually transmitted diseases in fertility
- 11 Family planning and unsafe abortion
- 12 Global sexual and reproductive health: responding to the needs of adolescents
- 13 Understanding reproductive decisions
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
Mammary glands do not normally feature prominently in discussions of reproduction. Instead, discussions of reproduction deservedly emphasize the primary sex organs, the reproductive tract and the cardinal hormones (gonadotrophins and gonadal steroids) involved. However, newborn mammals cannot process foraged food and only the mammary gland is capable of synthesizing renewable food, in the form of milk, which is digestible by the neonates. Milk is a complex nutrient, consisting mainly of milk sugar (lactose), lipids, the milk proteins (casein and whey) as well as monovalent and divalent cations and immune antibodies. The female mammary glands are markedly altered functionally and morphologically during pregnancy in preparation for the production of this complex liquid food mixture for delivery to the neonates. The mammary gland thus forms an important adjunct to the mammalian reproductive system and is essential for the survival of mammalian species.
The conversion from inactive to active milk-producing mammary tissues requires extensive surges in cell proliferation as well as metabolic modifications. These alterations occur regularly during each ovulatory cycle in preparation for a potential pregnancy and the post-partum lactational activity.
In the absence of pregnancy, the proliferative rate returns to basal levels in the normal breast. The regulation of these proliferative oscillations depends on the steroid hormone milieu within microregions of the breast. It is argued that dysregulation of this microenvironment can lead to conditions within regions of the breast that result in foci of neoplasia.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Reproduction and AdaptationTopics in Human Reproductive Ecology, pp. 50 - 79Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011