Figure 4

Retinoic acid (RA) enhances the expression of Pax3/7 but not MyoD or Meox1 in the presence of β-Cat/EnR. Panel I: P19[control] and P19[β-Cat/EnR] cultures were differentiated with 0.8% dimethylsulfoxide in the presence of 0, 3, and 10 nM RA. Total RNA was harvested and hybridized with the probes as indicated. Panel II: quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of Pax3 and Pax7 transcript levels, for each condition in Panel I, shown as one representative experiment performed in triplicate. Panel III: RA activates β-catenin in P19 aggregate but not monolayer cultures. P19 cells were transfected with the TOPFlash or FOPFlash reporter and treated with the compounds indicated in aggregated or monolayer cultures. Cells were harvested 24 hours later for luciferase assays (n = 2). Numbers represent the average +/- standard error of mean and statistics were Student's t-test, *P < 0.05.