Ingredient intelligence
All-trans retinoic acid
Retinoid · Tretinoin (prescription in many jurisdictions) · C20H28O2
All-trans retinoic acid is the receptor-active retinoid . It is a regulated drug substance in many countries; it is included here for biological context only.
Any underlined term can be tapped for an everyday-English translation.
Molecular identity
- Formula
- C20H28O2
- Molecular weight
- 300.4 g/mol
- PubChem CID
- 444795
- ChEBI
- CHEBI:15367
Biological targets
Retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA)
high confidenceactivates · receptor
UniProt P10276Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB)
high confidenceactivates · receptor
UniProt P10826Retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRA)
medium confidencemodulates · receptor
UniProt P19793
How could this ingredient interact with biology?
Biological network
Ingredient → molecule → target → gene/protein → pathway → process → studied outcome. Relationship strength is drawn from the curated confidence tier; nothing is added to make the chain look complete.
drag to pan · hover to isolate a path · click a node for detail
1 lower-confidence relationship is hidden at this filter level. Use “Show more biology” to include them.
Text alternative for this network
- All-trans retinoic acid is molecule All-trans retinoic acid — high confidence
- All-trans retinoic acid activates Retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) — high confidence
- All-trans retinoic acid activates Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB) — high confidence
- All-trans retinoic acid modulates Retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRA) — medium confidence
- Retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) encoded by RARA — high confidence
- Retinoic acid receptor beta (RARB) encoded by RARB — high confidence
- RARA participates in Nuclear receptor transcription pathway — high confidence
- RARB participates in Nuclear receptor transcription pathway — high confidence
- RARA participates in Signalling by retinoic acid — high confidence
- RARB participates in Signalling by retinoic acid — high confidence
- Nuclear receptor transcription pathway associated with Epidermal differentiation — high confidence
- Signalling by retinoic acid associated with Epidermal differentiation — high confidence
- Nuclear receptor transcription pathway associated with Extracellular matrix remodelling — medium confidence
- Signalling by retinoic acid associated with Extracellular matrix remodelling — medium confidence
- Epidermal differentiation studied in Studied in dermatological research; regulated as a medicine in many regions — high confidence
- Extracellular matrix remodelling studied in Studied in dermatological research; regulated as a medicine in many regions — medium confidence
Biological pathways
Nuclear receptor transcription pathway
high confidenceDirect transcriptional regulation through /RXR heterodimers.
Reactome R-HSA-383280
Signalling by retinoic acid
high confidenceCanonical retinoid signalling cascade.
Reactome R-HSA-5362517
Evidence engine
Strong
Multiple independent human studies point in the same direction.
Skinceptor Evidence Index
78
experimental · of 100
This index is a research-navigation aid describing how much evidence exists and how it was produced. It is not a medical safety score, an efficacy guarantee, or a clinical recommendation.
Study composition
- Human1
- Randomised controlled trial2
- Review2
- Total studies
- 5
- Human studies
- 3
- Largest sample
- 297
- Range
- 1988–2015
Index breakdown
- Study design quality68% × 28%
Mean design weight across curated studies (meta-analysis 1.0, RCT 0.9, other human 0.7, review 0.45, animal 0.35, in-vitro 0.25).
- Human evidence share100% × 22%
Proportion of curated evidence measured in people rather than cells or animals.
- Evidence volume82% × 14%
Log-scaled count of curated studies, so volume alone cannot dominate the score.
- Largest sample size82% × 12%
Log-scaled largest reported sample size across curated human studies.
- Replication100% × 12%
Independent human studies, capped at three; one study is never treated as replicated.
- Recency45% × 7%
Linear decay over a twenty-year window from the most recent curated publication.
- Source traceability20% × 5%
Share of curated studies with a verified PMID or DOI in this dataset.
Insufficient comparable evidence for quantitative synthesis.
Research timeline
How the evidence accumulated
1988
Topical tretinoin improves photoaged skin: a double-blind vehicle-controlled study
Randomised controlled trialn = 30 · JAMA
1996
Adapalene 0.1% gel versus tretinoin 0.025% gel in acne vulgaris: a randomised trial
Randomised controlled trialn = 297 · British Journal of Dermatology
1999
Retinaldehyde: cutaneous conversion to retinoic acid and tolerability in human skin
Reviewsample size unavailable · Dermatology (review)
2000
Retinoid-induced procollagen synthesis and matrix metalloproteinase suppression in human skin in vivo
Humann = 22 · Journal of Clinical Investigation
2015
Retinoic acid receptor expression and retinoid signalling in human skin
Reviewsample size unavailable · Journal of Investigative Dermatology (review)
Ingredient fingerprint
13 nodes · 19 relationships · seed "tretinoin"
The fingerprint is a deterministic visual signature: ridge amplitude comes from the number of entities in each tier, node placement from identifier hashes, and opacity from confidence. Two ingredients can never produce the same figure unless their networks are identical.
Open in Biology as Art →Research
5 curated studies
Retinoic acid receptor expression and retinoid signalling in human skin
Summarises RAR/RXR heterodimer signalling as the transcriptional mechanism of retinoid action in epidermis and dermis.
Limitations — Narrative review; mechanistic focus without effect-size synthesis.
Retinoid-induced procollagen synthesis and matrix metalloproteinase suppression in human skin in vivo
Reported increased procollagen I expression and reduced MMP-1 in biopsied retinoid-treated skin.
Limitations — Biopsy-based surrogate endpoints; identifier not verified during curation.
Retinaldehyde: cutaneous conversion to retinoic acid and tolerability in human skin
Summarises evidence that retinaldehyde is oxidised in skin to retinoic acid, with reported tolerability intermediate between retinol and tretinoin.
Limitations — Narrative review; identifier not verified during curation.
Adapalene 0.1% gel versus tretinoin 0.025% gel in acne vulgaris: a randomised trial
Reported comparable lesion-count reduction with adapalene and tretinoin, with less irritation in the adapalene group.
Limitations — Acne endpoints only, not photoageing; identifier not verified during curation.
Topical tretinoin improves photoaged skin: a double-blind vehicle-controlled study
Reported statistically significant improvement in photoaging endpoints with tretinoin versus vehicle.
Limitations — Small sample; prescription-strength retinoid, not a cosmetic retinol.
Community evidence
Submitted by readers
Reader submissions appear here only after review. They are not part of the curated dataset and do not affect the Skinceptor Evidence Index.
No approved community submissions yet.
Sources
- PubChem 444795Verified 2026-09-14
- Reactome R-HSA-5362517Verified 2026-09-14
Related biology maps