Effect of topical application of 13-cis retinoic acid on skin of hairless rats and hairless mice.

The potential effectiveness of topical 13-cis retinoic acid (13-cis RA) as a sebosuppressive agent was evaluated in hairless ("fuzzy") rats and hairless mice. At nontoxic dosages (i.e., concentrations which induced no weight loss), topical 13-cis RA had no detectable sebosuppressive effects in either of these species. In hairless rats, the topical application of 0.2% 13-cis RA induced more severe symptoms of toxicity than was induced by the administration of equivalent amounts of the drug by either oral or subcutaneous routes. Due to variability in species sensitivity to 13-cis RA, the potential effectiveness of the topical use of this retinoid can probably only be evaluated in human volunteers.