Robert B Sanders

Ph.D., Michigan, 1964

My research includes the biochemistry hormone action, the biochemistry of reproduction, and uterine biochemistry. Research projects have included the study of the properties of uterine adenylate cyclase in the rat.

Among the earliest biochemical events associated with the decidual cell reaction in the uterus of the mouse or rat is an increase in the concentration of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cAMP). Thus several workers have suggested that cAMP is a major factor in initiating decidualization and implantation in rats and mice. Previous work in our laboratory has shown that adenylate cyclase (AC), the enzyme which catalyzes the formation of cAMP, was activated after a decidual stimulus was applied to the uterus only on Day 4, the day of maximal sensitivity to decidual induction. These studies supported the concept that the AC system might play a central role in transducing the stimulus for decidualization.