Effect of retinyl acetate on the assembly of the fibronectin extracellular matrix and the processing of the fibronectin receptor beta subunit of confluent C3H/10T1/2 mouse embryo fibroblasts.

The mouse embryo fibroblast cell line, C3H/10T1/2, synthesized and deposited a large amount of fibronectin especially in the pericellular matrix. Confluent cultures of these cells cultured in the presence of 0.3 micrograms/ml of retinyl acetate released cell surface fibronectin and the extracellular matrix fibronectin fibrils were disorganized. The immunoblot analysis demonstrated that the number of the fibronectin receptor was decreased in the prolonged culturing of retinyl acetate-treated cells. Immunoprecipitation of 35S-methionine pulse-chase labeled cell extracts by antifibronectin receptor antibody indicated that about one-half of the pre-beta subunit was processed and converted to the mature form in control cells, and only about one-fourth of the pre-beta subunit was processed in the retinyl acetate-treated confluent cells. 1-deoxymannojirimycin (MNJ), which is an inhibitor of oligosaccharide processing, induced disorganization of the extracellular matrix fibronectin assembly similar to that observed with retinyl acetate. The results of this study suggest that a mechanism of action of retinyl acetate is inhibition of the glycosylation during processing of the fibronectin receptor, a step necessary for fibronectin binding and for assembly of the extracellular matrix.