Ejection reflex

The ejection reflex , milk ejection reflex or milk dispensing reflex is a reflex triggered by the suckling of an infant or young animal in the mother to stimulate milk delivery. The irritation of the teat or nipple is conducted by sensitive nerve fibers to the mother's hypothalamus . The peptide hormone oxytocin is then released in the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland . This hormone stimulates the myoepithelial cells of the mammary gland to contract . This in turn causes milk to be transported from the end chambers (alveoli) to the milk collecting spaces (cisterns) of the mammary gland. The time from the stimulation of the teat to the pouring in of the milk is about ten seconds.

literature

• Gerhard Heldmaier, Gerhard Neuweiler: Comparative Animal Physiology: Volume 2 Vegetative Physiology . Springer 2004, ISBN 978-3540000679 , p. 387.