Neuroendocrine control of the milk ejection reflex.

The rate and extent to which milk is ejected from the mammary gland during suckling or milking depend upon the relative functioning of a complex array of facilitatory and inhibitory factors which are intertwined and capable of adapting. Some of these operate to regulate the release of oxytocin from the neurohypophysis; others function peripherally to regulate the contractile effectiveness of the oxytocin-sensitive myoepithelium within the mammary gland.