Male lactation

In zoology, male lactation is production of milk (lactation) from a male mammal's mammary glands. It is well-documented in the Dayak fruit bat and the Bismarck masked flying fox. The term male lactation is not used in human medicine. It has been used in popular literature, such as Louise Erdrich's The Antelope Wife, to describe the phenomenon of male galactorrhea, which is a well-documented condition in humans, unrelated to childbirth or nursing. Newborn babies of both sexes can occasionally produce milk; this is called neonatal milk (also known as "witch's milk") and not considered male lactation.

History

Male lactation was of some interest to Alexander von Humboldt, who reports in Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent of a citizen of the village Arenas (close to Cumana) who allegedly nurtured his son for three months when his wife was ill,^[1] as well as Charles Darwin, who commented on it in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871):

It is well known that in the males of all mammals, including man, rudimentary mammae exist. These in several instances have become well developed, and have yielded a copious supply of milk. Their essential identity in the two sexes is likewise shown by their occasional sympathetic enlargement in both during an attack of the measles.^[2]

Darwin later considered the nearly perfect function of male nipples in contrast to greatly reduced structures such as the vesicula prostatica, speculating that both sexes may have nursed young in early mammalian ancestors, and subsequently mammals evolved to inactivate them in males at an early age.^[3]

Evolution and biology

Male mammals of many species have been observed to lactate under unusual or pathogenic conditions such as extreme stress, castration and exposure to phytoestrogens, or pituitary tumors. Therefore, it is hypothesized that, while most male mammals could easily develop the ability to lactate, there is no selective advantage to male lactation. While male mammals could, in theory, improve offspring's survival rate through the additional nourishment provided by lactation, most have developed other strategies to increase the number of surviving offspring, such as mating with additional partners. Presently, very few species are known where male lactation occurs and it is not well understood what evolutionary factors control the development of this trait.^[4]

Nonhuman animal male lactation

The phenomenon of male lactation occurs in some species, notably the Dayak fruit bat (Dyacopterus spadiceus) and the Bismark masked flying fox (Pteropus capistratus), and the lactating males may assist in the nursing of their infants. In addition, male goats are known to lactate on occasion.^[5]

Human male lactation

Human male breastfeeding is possible,^[6] but production of the hormone prolactin is necessary to induce lactation, so male lactation does not occur under normal conditions.^[7] When it does occur, hyperpituitarism is indicated. Also, the male breasts lack special lobules that is present in both male and female. Domperidone is a drug that can be used to increase lactation. Male lactation has also been seen during recovery from starvation. This may be because glands that produce hormones recover more quickly than the liver, which absorbs hormones, leading to high hormone levels.^[8]

Spontaneous production of milk not associated with childbirth, known as galactorrhea, can occur in males and females.^[9]

See also

• Galactagogue
• Milking the bull, a proverb which refers to the act of milking a male animal
• Male egg
• Male pregnancy
• Intersex

References

External links

• Sri Lanka Man nurses Daughter
• Male Lactation