ReviewNeuroscience and biobehavioral reviews2025
Concerning the circadian rhythms of prolactin, its secretion timing, and regulation of the affiliative mind.
Review in Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prolactin as a Candidate Biomarker in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Implications for Personalized Medicine and Post-Treatment Risk Stratification.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- From the perspective of prolactin: a view on obesity.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Prolactin, traditionally regarded as a lactation hormone, is now understood to be a multifunctional modulator of physiology and behavior, integrating reproductive, metabolic, immune, and affective processes. A defining feature of prolactin is its circadian rhythmicity: in humans, levels peak during the early hours of the night-between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m.-a time closely aligned with caregiving, physical intimacy, and co-sleeping. This review synthesizes the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying prolactin's secretion, highlighting the roles of dopaminergic inhibition, hypothalamic signaling, photoperiodic input, and circadian regulation via the suprachiasmatic nucleus, alongside interactions with sleep-wake cycles. Beyond its well-established physiological roles, prolactin appears to attenuate activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, promote neural plasticity, and enhance social bonding in mothers and fathers, as well as in non-parental cooperative caregivers. Integrating these data, we propose that prolactin's nocturnal rise may scaffold a circadian-gated neurobehavioral state - what we term the affiliative mind - characterized by calm affect, empathic attunement, and approach-oriented prosocial motivation. This state is potentiated by oxytocin and endorphin release during close social interactions, forming an amplifying feedback loop. As part of our general hypothesis, we also suggest that prolactin may influence higher-order social cognition through effects on the brain's default mode network, and that its rhythms may become partially synchronized among individuals who cohabitate. Evolutionarily, prolactin's nocturnal action may have transformed nighttime vulnerabilities into opportunities for solidifying trust and group cohesion. Together, plausible extensions of available data position prolactin as a chronobiological scaffold for affiliative behavior within and across individuals and social groups.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.