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The appearance of another volume in that excellent series, Methods in Enzymology, is always a cause for appreciation for those who wish to successfully carry out a particular technique or prepare an enzyme or metabolic intermediate without the tiresome prospect of searching through unfamiliar literature and perhaps selecting an unproven method which is not easily reproduced.
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Methods in Enzymology Volume 190 Retinoids Part B Cell Dlrerentiation and Clinical Applications EDITED BY Lester Packer DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR UNIVERSITY AND OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. CELL BIOLOGY BERKELEY CALIFOKNIA Editorial Advisory Board Frank Chytil Leonard M&tone Dewitt Goodman Concetta Nicotra Maria A. Livrea James A. Olson Stanley S. Shapiro 0AP ACADEMIC Harcourl Brace PRESS, Jovanovich, INC. Publishers San Diego New York Boston London Sydney Tokyo Toronto Preface Spectacular progress and unprecedented interest in the field of retinoids prompted us to consider this topic for two volumes in the Methods in Enzymology series: Volume 189, Retinoids, Part A: Molecular and Metabolic Aspects and Volume 190, Retinoids, Part B: Cell Differentiation and Clinical Applications. From a historical perspective we know that studies in the 1930s showed that vitamin A (retinol) and retinal had a role in the visual process. It was also recognized that some link between vitamin A and cancer incidence existed. Several decades ago it was discovered that retinoic acid had a dramatic effect on the chemically induced DMBA mouse skin carcinogenesis model in which enormous reductions in the tumor burden were observed. This led to the realization that retinoids had important effects on cell differentiation. This r