Durston A J, Timmermans J P, Hage W J, Hendriks H F, de Vries N J, Heideveld M, Nieuwkoop P D
Hubrecht Laboratory, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Nature. 1989 Jul 13;340(6229):140-4. doi: 10.1038/340140a0.
All-trans retinoic acid (RA) is well known as a biologically active form of vitamin A and a teratogen. The identification of nuclear receptors for this ligand suggests strongly that it is an endogenous signal molecule, and measurements of RA and teratogenic manipulations suggest further that RA is a morphogen specifying the anteroposterior axis during limb development. Besides the limb, RA and other retinoids affect development of other organs, including the central nervous system (CNS). None of these other effects has been investigated in detail. Our purpose here was to begin analysing the effects of RA on CNS development in Xenopus laevis. We find that RA acts on the developing CNS, transforming anterior neural tissue to a posterior neural specification. These and other findings raise the possibility that RA mediates an inductive interaction regulating anteroposterior differentiation within the CNS. Following recent reports implicating transforming growth factor-beta 2-like and fibroblast growth factor-like factors in mesoderm induction, this indicates that a different type of signal molecule (working through a nuclear receptor, not a plasma membrane receptor) might mediate inductive cell interactions during early embryonic development.
全反式维甲酸（RA）作为维生素A的一种生物活性形式和致畸剂而广为人知。对该配体核受体的鉴定有力地表明它是一种内源性信号分子，而对RA的测量和致畸操作进一步表明，RA是一种在肢体发育过程中指定前后轴的形态发生素。除了肢体，RA和其他类视黄醇还会影响包括中枢神经系统（CNS）在内的其他器官的发育。这些其他影响均未得到详细研究。我们在此的目的是开始分析RA对非洲爪蟾中枢神经系统发育的影响。我们发现RA作用于发育中的中枢神经系统，将前部神经组织转化为后部神经特征。这些以及其他发现增加了RA介导调节中枢神经系统内前后分化的诱导性相互作用的可能性。继最近有报道表明转化生长因子-β2样因子和成纤维细胞生长因子样因子参与中胚层诱导之后，这表明一种不同类型的信号分子（通过核受体而非质膜受体起作用）可能在早期胚胎发育过程中介导诱导性细胞相互作用。
