Retinoic acid-promoted expansion of total cellular ATP pools in 3T3 cells can mediate its stimulatory and growth inhibitory effects.

Exposure of Swiss 3T3 cells to micromolar quantities of beta-all-trans-retinoic acid (RA) results in either inhibition of growth or stimulation of cellular responsiveness to mitogens, depending on the length of treatment. Inhibition of growth is produced by treatment of the cells with RA for at least 48 hours. The total cellular pools of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) are markedly increased after 48-hour RA treatment and dose dependence studies show a correlation between the expanded ATP pools and the inhibitor effects. The expansion of total cellular ATP pools by retinoic acid occurs throughout the cell cycle and parallels the cell cycle-dependent fluctuations in total cellular ATP pools of untreated cells. Studies of [3H]thymidine incorporation and labeling indices in intact cells and [3H]dTTP incorporation and labeling indices in isolated nuclei of RA-treated and control cultures suggest that cellular acid-soluble nucleotide pools mediate the inhibition of DNA replication in the 48-hour-RA-treated cells. The stimulatory activity of RA for mitogenic responsiveness is demonstrated by treatment of G0/G1-arrested 3T3 cells with micromolar levels of RA for a maximum of 18 hours resulting in the potentiation of phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated transition into S phase of the cell cycle. Marked increases in total cellular ATP and UTP pools are produced by 18-hour treatment of G0/G1-arrested cells with RA, before their exposure to PMA.