Cellular retinol-binding protein.

1. A protein which binds retinol in vitro with high affinity and specificity was detected by sucrose gradient centrifugation or by gel filtration after preincubating rat tissue cytosols with all-trans-[3H]retinol. This protein sediments in the 2 S region of sucrose gradients. Molecular size determination by gel filtration indicates a molecular weight of 16 000. 2. Competition studies revealed that only all-trans-retinol, not retinal or retinoic acid, competes for binding. The binding of radioactive retinol is reversible. 3. This protein was detected in cytosols of rat liver, lung, spleen, brain, testis, ovaries, uterus and intestinal mucosa whereas heart or gastrocnemius muscle seem to lack this protein. 4. The cellular retinol binding protein was found in fetuses as early as day 12 of the gestation period and possessed the same specificity for the ligand as the one in adult tissues. 5. This binding component was not detected in cytosols prepared from Novikoff hepatoma, ascites hepatoma AS-30D, mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor and mouse pituitary tumor cell line AtT 20. 6. The cellular retinol binding protein seems to be different from that described to be present in the serum as suggested by difference in size and by the inability of the antisera against the serum retinol binding protein to remove the cellular binding protein from the cytosol preparations.