Hypothalamic–pituitary–prolactin axis

Okay kiddo, so you know how our body has different parts that do different things, right? One of those parts is called the hypothalamus, which is like a control center for a lot of our body's functions.

One thing the hypothalamus helps control is hormones, which are like little messengers that tell different parts of our body what to do. One of those hormones is called prolactin.

Now, the way the body makes prolactin is by another part called the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus tells the pituitary gland when to make prolactin, and then the pituitary gland releases it into the bloodstream.

But why does the body need prolactin, you might ask? Well, prolactin helps with things like milk production for nursing moms, and also helps control things like our immune system and metabolism.

So basically, the hypothalamic-pituitary-prolactin axis is just a fancy way of saying that there are three different parts of our body that work together to control the levels of the hormone prolactin, which helps with things like milk production and immune function.