Uterine cells produce their own estrogen during pregnancy

		IMAGE: Doctoral student Amrita Das (left), with veterinary biosciences professor Indrani Bagchi and molecular and integrative physiology professor Milan Bagchi, discovered that uterine cells synthesize estrogen during pregnancy. Click here for more information.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For decades, scientists assumed that the ovary alone produced steroid hormones during pregnancy. In a new study in mice, however, researchers demonstrate that once an embryo attaches to the uterine wall, the uterus itself actually synthesizes the estrogen needed to sustain the pregnancy.