Vitamin A and its derivatives (retinoids) have both profound effects on epidermal differentiation and beneficial therapeutic effects in various dermatologic diseases. In order to understand these effects, much work has been done with cultured keratinocytes, which show specific morphologic, cellular, and biochemical changes modulated by retinoids. In an attempt to further define specific molecular effects of retinoids in cultured human keratinocytes, we studied the expression of pemphigus (P) and pemphigoid (BP) antigens by human keratinocytes cultured with retinoic acid (RA) in concentrations which modulated differentiation. Cultures of human keratinocytes in medium with 10% delipidized fetal bovine serum (vitamin A-depleted medium) demonstrated areas of extensive differentiation with flattened stratifying cells, keratohyaline granules, and an anucleate stratum corneum-like superficial layer. These cells also synthesized a 67 kd keratin, characteristic of well-differentiated epidermis. In contrast, cultures of human keratinocytes in the same medium supplemented with (10(-7) M, 3 X 10(-7) M, or 10(-6) M) RA demonstrated less differentiated small cuboidal cells that were stratified but did not form an anucleate layer or keratohyaline granules, and did not synthesize the 67 kd keratin. In order to detect P and BP antigens in these cultures, we used indirect immunofluorescence. In vitamin A-depleted cultures, P antigen either was not detected or was seen focally on the cell surface of basal cells. BP antigen was seen on the basal pole of the basal cells, approximating its in vivo location. In RA-treated cells, P antigen was seen on the cell surface of most of the cells, and BP antigen was seen throughout the cytoplasm of the basal cells. In order to study the expression of newly synthesized antigens, we radiolabeled cultures with 14C-amino acids and quantitatively immunoprecipitated the antigens, which were then identified by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We detected a major decrease in newly synthesized P antigen precipitated from extracts of vitamin A-depleted cells compared to RA-supplemented cells, whereas amounts of newly synthesized BP antigen were about the same. Taken together these data demonstrate that RA, at concentrations that decrease differentiation of cultured human keratinocytes, increases the expression of P antigen and changes the subcellular location of BP antigen.