Biochemical Methods for Detection and Measurement of Cyclic AMP and Adenylyl Cyclase Activity

Many drugs and hormones interact with plasma membrane receptors to induce changes in the production of intracellular second messengers. The first such messenger to be identified was adenosine-3′,5′ cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), discovered by Sutherland and Rall in the late 1950s (1 ). Changes in cellular cAMP levels can occur from increases or decreases in its biosynthesis (which results from the catalytic conversion of ATP to cAMP by the enzyme adenylyl cyclase) or by altering its degradation (which results from hydrolysis of the cyclic phosphodiester bond by cyclic nucleotide or cAMP phosphodiesterases).