Hormonal influences on neuroimmune responses in the CNS of females

Particular reproductive stages such as lactation impose demands on the female. To cope with these demands, her physiology goes through numerous adaptations, for example, attenuation of immune and stress responses. Hormonal fluctuation during lactation exerts a strong influence, inducing neuroplasticity in the hypothalamus and extrahypothalamic regions, and diminishing the stress and inflammatory responses. Thus, hormones confer decreased vulnerability to the female brain. This mini-review focuses on the adaptations of the immune and stress response during maternity, and on the neuroprotective actions of progesterone and prolactin and their effects on inflammation. The importance of pregnancy and lactation as experimental models to study immune responses and disease is also highlighted.