Retinoic acid regulates both expression of the nerve growth factor receptor and sensitivity to nerve growth factor.

In PC12 cells, retinoic acid (RA) stimulates the expression of p75NGFR, a component of the nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor, as indicated by a rapid increase in p75NGFR mRNA, an increase in the binding of 125I-labeled NGF to p75NGFR, and an increase in the binding of NGF to low affinity sites. RA-treated cells are more sensitive to NGF, but not to either fibroblast growth factor or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, showing that RA has a specific effect on the responsiveness of PC12 cells to NGF. Exposure to RA leads neither to an increase in the expression of mRNA for trk, another component of the NGF receptor, nor to an increase in binding to high affinity receptors, suggesting that an increase in the expression of p75NGFR is sufficient to make cells more sensitive to NGF. This work suggests that, in addition to having direct effects on gene expression, RA can indirectly modulate differentiation of neurons by modifying their expression of cell surface receptors to peptide growth factors.