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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Front Neuroendocrinol. 2014 Dec 10;0:178–196. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2014.11.007

Figure 5.

Figure 5

Endocrine inputs that prime the maternal brain. Hormones produced by a range of endocrine structures feedback upon the central nervous system to alter the expression of maternal behavior at parturition. Lactogenic hormones from both the pituitary gland and the developing conceptus appear to act over a prolonged time frame to prime the maternal brain in concert with the rising and falling circulating titers of estradiol and progesterone. The source of the gonadal steroids varies among mammalian species with the conceptus and placenta being more contributory in primates, including humans, than in rodents.