title: Metabolic inactivation of retinoic acid by a novel P450 differentially expressed in developing mouse embryos.
abstract: Retinoic acid (RA) is a physiological agent that has a wide range of biological activity and appears to regulate developmental programs of vertebrates. However, little is known about the molecular basis of its metabolism. Here we have identified a novel cytochrome P450 (P450RA) that specifically metabolizes RA. In vitro, P450RA converts all-trans RA into 5,8-epoxy all-trans RA. P450RA metabolizes other biologically active RAs such as 9-cis RA and 13-cis RA, but fails to metabolize their precursors, retinol and retinal. Overexpression of P450RA in cell culture renders the cells hyposensitive to all-trans RA. These functional tests in vitro and in vivo indicate that P450RA inactivates RA. The P450RA gene is not expressed uniformly but in a stage- and region-specific fashion during mouse development. The major expression domains in developing embryos include the posterior neural plate and neural crest cells for cranial ganglia. The expression of P450RA, however, is not necessarily inducible by excess RA. These results suggest that P450RA regulates the intracellular level of RA and may be involved in setting up the uneven distribution of active RA in mammalian embryos.
authors.affiliation: Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Bunkyo-ku, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujii
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gotoh
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujii-Kuriyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Osawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamada
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002460:Cell Line; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000072516:Retinoic Acid 4-Hydroxylase; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014162:Transfection / Q000235:genetics; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D014212:Tretinoin; D003577:Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme System; D010105:Oxygenases; C000607080:Cyp26a1 protein, mouse; D000072516:Retinoic Acid 4-Hydroxylase; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase