This simulator visualizes how suckling stimulus, oxytocin pulses, and myoepithelial contraction reinforce one another in an escalating positive feedback loop, contrasted against how a typical negative feedback loop would behave.
Start or adjust the suckling stimulus and watch oxytocin levels and milk ejection rise together in pulses, then stop the stimulus to see how quickly the loop terminates without an internal brake.
Adjust suckling intensity and duration to see real-time changes in oxytocin pulse frequency, myoepithelial contraction, and milk ejection rate.
Oxytocin's half-life in the bloodstream is only a few minutes, which is why the milk-ejection reflex can start and stop so quickly once suckling begins or ends.
This simulator visualizes how suckling stimulus, oxytocin pulses, and myoepithelial contraction reinforce one another in an escalating positive feedback loop, contrasted against how a typical negative feedback loop would behave.
This simulator visualizes how suckling stimulus, oxytocin pulses, and myoepithelial contraction reinforce one another in an escalating positive feedback loop, contrasted against how a typical negative feedback loop would behave.
Start or adjust the suckling stimulus and watch oxytocin levels and milk ejection rise together in pulses, then stop the stimulus to see how quickly the loop terminates without an internal brake.
Oxytocin's half-life in the bloodstream is only a few minutes, which is why the milk-ejection reflex can start and stop so quickly once suckling begins or ends.