Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026

Quantitative Analysis of Dietary Vitamin A Metabolites in Murine Ocular and Non-Ocular Tissues Using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
Published on: December 27, 2024
Vitamin A and retinoid signaling: genomic and nongenomic effects
Ziad Al Tanoury1, Aleksandr Piskunov, Cécile Rochette-Egly
1Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), U964, CNRS, UMR7104, Université de Strasbourg, 67404 Illkirch Cedex, France.
Abstract:
Vitamin A or retinol is arguably the most multifunctional vitamin in the human body, as it is essential from embryogenesis to adulthood. The pleiotropic effects of vitamin A are exerted mainly by one active metabolite, all-trans retinoic acid (atRA), which regulates the expression of a battery of target genes through several families of nuclear receptors (RARs, RXRs, and PPARβ/δ), polymorphic retinoic acid (RA) response elements, and multiple coregulators. It also involves extranuclear and nontranscriptional effects, such as the activation of kinase cascades, which are integrated in the nucleus via the phosphorylation of several actors of RA signaling. However, vitamin A itself proved recently to be active and RARs to be present in the cytosol to regulate translation and cell plasticity. These new concepts expand the scope of the biologic functions of vitamin A and RA.
Related Concept Videos
Signal Transduction: Overview
Typically, signal transduction involves three...
TGF - β Signaling Pathway
The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...
The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...
Transducer Mechanism: Nuclear Receptors
About 48 different soluble family members of nuclear receptors are identified that can be divided into two main classes:
Interactions Between Signaling Pathways
Convergence and divergence, and cross-talk between signaling pathways
Two distinct signaling pathways can converge on a single functional unit, which may either be a single protein or a complex of proteins. The response is either functionally distinct or synergistic between the two pathways but different from the response...

