ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the multistep process of squamous differentiation in rabbit tracheal epithelial cells cultured in vitro and the effect that retinoic acid and several series of different synthetic analogs have on this process. The tracheobronchial epithelium is a target for retinoid action. Retinoids are a class of naturally occurring compounds that are known to influence the differentiation of the tracheobronchial epithelium. Squamous cell differentiation of rabbit tracheal epithelial cells is a multistep process consisting of at least the following three steps: commitment to terminal cell division, expression of the squamous differentiated phenotype, and cornification. To examine the structure-activity relationships of retinoids, the effect of several synthetic analogs on squamous differentiation in rabbit tracheal epithelial cells was determined. Although the biological and biochemical responses to retinoids have been studied intensively in a variety of different cell systems, the mechanism of action is not fully established.
