{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,21]],"date-time":"2026-07-21T14:07:49Z","timestamp":1784642869098,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,24]],"date-time":"2022-04-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1650758400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA, China.","award":["CARS-49"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CARS-49"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Oyster meat has a tender texture and delicate flavor, and the oyster is an aquatic shellfish with high nutritional and economic values. As they are rich in protein, oysters serve as a good source for the preparation of bioactive peptides. However, research on the lactation effect and mechanism of the synthesis of polypeptides from oyster hydrolysates is yet to be observed. This study aimed to analyze the lactation activity of the fraction UEC4-1 and explore its mechanism. The results show that, in an in vivo experiment, UEC4-1 could significantly increase the concentration of PRL in the serum and mammary tissue and the concentration of PRLR in the mammary tissue in rats with postpartum hypogalactia. UEC4-1 promoted the development of mammary tissue structure, resulting in active lactation. UEC4-1 promoted the proliferation of MCF-10A in a dose-dependent manner and could significantly upregulate the gene expression levels of PRL, PRLR, CSN1S1, CSN2, CSN3 and CCND1. UEC4-1 could also significantly increase the expression of mTOR, AKT1, RPS6KB1 and STAT5A in MCF-10A and improve its phosphorylation level. These results show that UEC4-1 had the ability to upregulate the proliferation and PRL synthesis of MCF-10A and promote lactation. The ability of UEC4-1 to regulate the milk-protein synthesis signaling pathway is the mechanism behind this. Oysters had a remarkable effect on lactating mothers\u2019 sweating irritability after childbirth and may serve as an everyday diet to promote lactation. Postpartum dysgalactia is a common problem for lactating women. The study of the oyster\u2019s lactation-active peptide can provide dietary nutrition guidance for postpartum lactating mothers, and it has the potential to be used for the development of drugs for the treatment of postpartum hypogalactia or oligogalactia.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14091786","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,24]],"date-time":"2022-04-24T22:22:41Z","timestamp":1650838961000},"page":"1786","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Lactation Activity and Mechanism of Milk-Protein Synthesis by Peptides from Oyster Hydrolysates"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1301-7648","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Suhua","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoming","family":"Qin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chaohua","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenhong","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huina","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9823-2584","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Haisheng","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Research and Development Branch Center for Shellfish Processing (Zhanjiang), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Products Processing and Safety, Guangdong Province Engineering Laboratory for Marine Biological Products, Key Laboratory of Advanced Processing of Aquatic Product of Guangdong Higher Education Institution, College of Food Science and Technology, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China"},{"name":"Collaborative Innovation Center of Seafood Deep Processing, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"162","DOI":"10.18433\/J3DS3R","article-title":"Safety and Efficacy of Galactogogues: Substances that Induce, Maintain and Increase Breast Milk Production","volume":"13","author":"Zuppa","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Pharm. Pharm. Sci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lyons, K.E., Ryan, C.A., Dempsey, E.M., Ross, R.P., and Stanton, C. (2020). Breast milk, a source of beneficial microbes and associated benefits for infant health. Nutrients, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu12041039"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1177\/156482659601700404","article-title":"Breast Development and Control of Milk Synthesis","volume":"17","author":"Hartmann","year":"1996","journal-title":"Food Nutr. Bull."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tritos, N.A., and Klibanski, A. (2019). Prolactin and its role in human reproduction. Yen and Jaffe\u2019s Reproductive Endocrinology, Elsevier.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-323-47912-7.00003-2"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Martin, C.R., Ling, P.-R., and Blackburn, G.L. (2016). Review of infant feeding: Key features of breast milk and infant formula. Nutrients, 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/nu8050279"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4020-8749-3_15","article-title":"Effects of breast-feeding on cognitive function","volume":"639","author":"Michaelsen","year":"2009","journal-title":"Breast-Feed. Early Inf. Later Health"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1186\/s13052-021-01061-0","article-title":"Macronutrient balance and micronutrient amounts through growth and development","volume":"47","author":"Savarino","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ital. J. Pediatrics"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954422420000074","article-title":"Amino acid transportation, sensing and signal transduction in the mammary gland: Key molecular signalling pathways in the regulation of milk synthesis","volume":"33","author":"Wu","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nutr. Res. Rev."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhou, M., Xu, L., Zhao, F.-Q., and Liu, H. (2021). Regulation of Milk Protein Synthesis by Free and Peptide-Bound Amino Acids in Dairy Cows. Biology, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/biology10101044"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1674","DOI":"10.3389\/fphys.2018.01674","article-title":"Comparison of the Biochemical Composition and Nutritional Quality Between Diploid and Triploid Hong Kong Oysters, Crassostrea hongkongensis","volume":"9","author":"Qin","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"255","DOI":"10.3390\/md8020255","article-title":"Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) Hydrolysates Produced on a Plant Scale Have Antitumor Activity and Immunostimulating Effects in BALB\/c Mice","volume":"8","author":"Wang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Mar. Drugs"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cheong, K.-L., Xia, L.-X., and Liu, Y. (2017). Isolation and characterization of polysaccharides from oysters (Crassostrea gigas) with anti-tumor activities using an aqueous two-phase system. Mar. Drugs, 15.","DOI":"10.3390\/md15110338"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1007\/s10989-013-9385-5","article-title":"Purification and characterization of antioxidant peptides from oyster (Saccostrea cucullata) hydrolysate and the anticancer activity of hydrolysate on human colon cancer cell lines","volume":"20","author":"Umayaparvathi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Int. J. Pept. Res. Ther."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3947","DOI":"10.1002\/fsn3.1710","article-title":"Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory peptide fraction from oyster soft tissue by enzymatic hydrolysis","volume":"8","author":"Qian","year":"2020","journal-title":"Food Sci. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hwang, D., Kang, M.-j., Jo, M.J., Seo, Y.B., Park, N.G., and Kim, G.-D. (2019). Anti-inflammatory activity of \u03b2-thymosin peptide derived from pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) on NO and PGE2 production by down-regulating NF-\u03baB in LPS-induced RAW264. 7 macrophage cells. Mar. Drugs, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/md17020129"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"421","DOI":"10.1007\/s10989-016-9521-0","article-title":"Sequence determination of an antioxidant peptide obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of oyster Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston)","volume":"22","author":"Asha","year":"2016","journal-title":"Int. J. Pept. Res. Ther."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"107","article-title":"Effects of enzymatic hydrolysate products of oyster on lactation in overloaded lactating rat","volume":"17","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"South China Fish. Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e13467","DOI":"10.1111\/jfbc.13467","article-title":"Identification of octopus peptide and its promotion of \u03b2-casein synthesis in a mouse mammary epithelial cell line","volume":"44","author":"Cai","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Food Biochem."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.22358\/jafs\/74519\/2007","article-title":"Effects of methionine-containing dipeptides on \u03b1s1 casein expression in bovine mammary epithelial cells","volume":"16","author":"Wu","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Anim. Feed Sci."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1748","DOI":"10.3945\/jn.114.208330","article-title":"Methionyl-Methionine Promotes \u03b1-s1 Casein Synthesis in Bovine Mammary Gland Explants by Enhancing Intracellular Substrate Availability and Activating JAK2-STAT5 and mTOR-Mediated Signaling Pathways","volume":"145","author":"Yang","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1159\/000492987","article-title":"Dipeptide (Methionyl-Methionine) Transport and Its Effect on \u03b2-Casein Synthesis in Bovine Mammary Epithelial Cells","volume":"49","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cell. Physiol. Biochem."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"618","DOI":"10.3923\/ijp.2015.618.624","article-title":"Therapeutic Effect of Cuirutang on Maternal Rats with Hypogalactia Induced by Bromocriptine","volume":"11","author":"Dong","year":"2015","journal-title":"Int. J. Pharmacol."},{"key":"ref_23","first-page":"e4389","article-title":"Performing Vaginal Lavage, Crystal Violet Staining, and Vaginal Cytological Evaluation for Mouse Estrous Cycle Staging Identification","volume":"67","author":"McLean","year":"2012","journal-title":"JoVE"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1530\/jrf.0.0190063","article-title":"Effects on spermatogenesis in guinea-pigs, rabbits and sheep after their immunization with sexual organ fluids of bulls","volume":"19","author":"Matousek","year":"1969","journal-title":"J. Reprod. Fertil."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3660","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2013-7773","article-title":"Insulin stimulates glucose uptake via a phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase-linked signaling pathway in bovine mammary epithelial cells","volume":"97","author":"Zhao","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"781","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1439-0396.2010.01110.x","article-title":"Effects of tripeptides and lactogenic hormones on oligopeptide transporter 2 in bovine mammary gland","volume":"95","author":"Zhou","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Anim. Physiol. Anim. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1111\/jpn.12246","article-title":"Effects of phenylalanine and threonine oligopeptides on milk protein synthesis in cultured bovine mammary epithelial cells","volume":"99","author":"Zhou","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Anim. Physiol. Anim. Nutr."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5502","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2017-13707","article-title":"Increasing the availability of threonine, isoleucine, valine, and leucine relative to lysine while maintaining an ideal ratio of lysine: Methionine alters mammary cellular metabolites, mammalian target of rapamycin signaling, and gene transcription","volume":"101","author":"Dong","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1708","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2017-13351","article-title":"Varying the ratio of Lys:Met while maintaining the ratios of Thr:Phe, Lys:Thr, Lys:His, and Lys:Val alters mammary cellular metabolites, mammalian target of rapamycin signaling, and gene transcription","volume":"101","author":"Dong","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Dairy Sci."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105","DOI":"10.1016\/S0301-6226(01)00202-0","article-title":"The role of prolactin for mammogenesis and galactopoiesis in swine","volume":"70","author":"Farmer","year":"2001","journal-title":"Livest. Prod. Sci."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2154","DOI":"10.1101\/gad.197343.112","article-title":"Autocrine prolactin induced by the Pten-Akt pathway is required for lactation initiation and provides a direct link between the Akt and Stat5 pathways","volume":"26","author":"Chen","year":"2012","journal-title":"Genes Dev."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1511","DOI":"10.1002\/ptr.6079","article-title":"Quercetin improves postpartum hypogalactia in milk-deficient mice via stimulating prolactin production in pituitary gland","volume":"32","author":"Lin","year":"2018","journal-title":"Phytother. Res."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e12669","DOI":"10.1111\/jne.12669","article-title":"30 years after: CNS actions of prolactin: Sources, mechanisms and physiological significance","volume":"31","author":"Bridges","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Neuroendocrinol."}],"container-title":["Nutrients"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6643\/14\/9\/1786\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T22:59:59Z","timestamp":1760137199000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6643\/14\/9\/1786"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,24]]},"references-count":33,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5]]}},"alternative-id":["nu14091786"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/nu14091786","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-6643"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-6643","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,4,24]]}}}