Retinoic acid modulation of the early development of the inner ear is associated with the control of c-fos expression.

The effects of retinoic acid (RA) on the early development of the inner ear were studied in vitro using isolated chick embryo vesicles. Low concentrations of RA (1-50 nM) inhibited vesicular growth in stage 18 otic vesicles that were made quiescent and then reactivated by either serum or bombesin. Growth inhibition was concentration-dependent and was paralleled by a reduction in the rate of DNA synthesis as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation. Half-inhibition occurred between 1 and 10 nM RA, and the full effect at 20 nM. Retinoic acid, in the presence of serum, induced the precocious differentiation of (1) secretory epithelium, the tegmentum vasculosum and endolymphatic sac and (2) early sensory and supporting epithelia. These structures were positioned in their corresponding normal presumptive areas. The overall direction of growth was reversed by RA and the ratio of the internal to the external vesicular surface area increased with RA concentration. The expression of the nuclear proto-oncogene c-fos in the developing otic vesicle was transient and stage-dependent. High levels of c-fos mRNA were positively correlated with cell proliferation. Incubation of growth-arrested otic vesicles with bombesin plus insulin at concentrations that induced cell proliferation produced a strong induction of c-fos. This mitogen-induced expression was suppressed by 25 nM RA. The results suggest (1) a role for retinoic acid in controlling the early development of the inner ear and (2) that this control is effected through the regulation of the proto-oncogene c-fos.