Retinoic acid, a physiologically active metabolite of vitamin A, is known animal teratogen. Among other malformations, limb abnormalities are produced and are attributed to a selective inhibition of differentiating prechondrogenic mesenchyme resulting in reduced or absent cartilage elements. Evidence is available that the cellular retinoic acid binding protein (cRABP) may be important in mediating the biological effects of retinoic acid. In this study, the cRABP has been identified by sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis in the gestation day 10 (Theiler stages 16-17) mouse forelimb bud, which contains retinoic-acid-sensitive prechondrogenic mesenchyme. Saturation analysis demonstrated values for the apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of 2.0 and 2.2 X 10(-9)M and for the total specific binding capacity for [3H]-trans-retinoic acid of 24.5 and 25.6 pmoles per mg cytosolic protein. The binding specificity of the forelimb bud cRABP for all-trans-retinoic acid was demonstrated in competition assays using all-trans-retinol, all-trans-retinal, and 13-cis-retinoic acid. In addition, 13-cis-retinoic acid was demonstrated to have a lower affinity for the cRABP than all-trans-retinoic acid, a result which may be related to the lower teratogenic potency of the 13-cis-retinoic acid. Thus, the cRABP was demonstrated in the mouse forelimb bud at a time of susceptibility for the production of limb malformations by retinoic acid. The role of the cRABP in the mechanism of retinoic acid teratogenicity remains to be delineated.