Vitamin A alters the internal viscosity of fragments of limb-bud mesenchyme.
Two techniques were used to examine the effect of vitamin A compounds (vitamin A acid = retinoic acid and vitamin A acetate) upon the relative strengths of adhesion among mouse limb-bud mesenchymal cells. Treatment with retinoic acid in vivo and with vitamin A acetate in vitro reduced the rate at which the fragments of mesenchyme rounded-up when cultured on a non-adhesive substratum, but these compounds did not alter the behavior of tissues tested in fragment-fusion experiments. These conflicting results indicate that the two tests measure different activities of cells and suggest that treatment with vitamin A alters the property(ies) of cells which regulate the internal viscosity of tissues.
D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D003238:Connective Tissue / Q000187:drug effects / Q000196:embryology*; D003239:Connective Tissue Cells; D046508:Culture Techniques; D005552:Forelimb / Q000196:embryology*; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology; D014783:Viscosity; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000494:pharmacology*
D014801:Vitamin A; D014212:Tretinoin