PRL and hereditary elliptocytosis: More specifically, given that the serum prolactin concentrations of HE steers were only approximately 10% of those of the LE steers [5], and that the glucocorticoid receptor-mediated pathway was implicated in observed changes in carbohydrate metabolism in HE steers [6], the expectation was that the expression pattern for pituitary genes responsible for the production and secretion of prolactin would be consistent with a down-regulated capacity, whereas that for POMC/ACTH would be consistent with an up-regulated capacity.