title: Bimodal effect of retinoic acid on melanocyte differentiation identified by time-dependent analysis.
abstract: Retinoic acid (RA) is considered to control melanocytes; however, its precise mechanism remains unclear because of a bimodal effect, which promotes or inhibits melanin synthesis depending on the cell type, culture condition of melanocytes and skin conditions. In this study, we examined the effects of RA throughout each stage of differentiation of melanocytes using a mouse embryonic stem cell culture system to induce melanocytes. The results showed that RA has significantly different effects depending on the stage of differentiation of melanocytes. More specifically, RA promoted differentiation in earlier stages, wherein embryonic stem cells became melanoblasts via neural crest cells, and inhibited differentiation in later stages, wherein melanoblasts became melanocytes. It was revealed for the first time that melanocytes show markedly different reactions to RA depending on the stage of differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratories, Nippon Menard Cosmetic Co., Ltd., Nagoya, Japan. inoue.yuu@menard.co.jp
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Takaaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Yasushi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Date
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mizutani
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.forename: Kayoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
authors.forename: Hirohiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akamatsu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D013234:Stem Cells; D013997:Time Factors; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D008543:Melanins; D014212:Tretinoin