Addition of 12-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) to cultures of intact Swiss mouse 3T3 fibroblasts induced a dose-dependent increase in ornithine decarboxylase (OrnDCase) activity. Over the same concentration range, 10(-9) to 10(-6) M, TPA induced the release of radioactively labeled fibronectin (FN) from the cells into the culture medium. Retinoic acid, a derivative of vitamin A, inhibited in a dose-dependent manner both the increase in OrnDCase activity and the release of FN induced by TPA. To examine the effects of TPA and retinoic acid in enucleated cells, the cells were treated with 7.5 micrograms of cytochalasin B per ml of medium during centrifugation at 10,000 X g for 35 min at 37 degrees C. In a series of five experiments, the treated cells were 94.7 +/- 4.8% (+/- SEM) enucleated as measured by [3H]thymidine incorporation and verified by Giesma staining for nuclei. In the enucleated cells, TPA did not induce increased OrnDCase activity but did induce FN release in a dose-dependent fashion over the same concentration range effective for FN release from intact cells. Moreover, addition of retinoic acid to the enucleated cells inhibited the phorbol ester-induced release of FN in a dose-dependent manner. A series of phorbol ester derivatives showed the same order of activity in causing FN release from the enucleated cells as reported for inducing OrnDcase activity in intact cells or in promoting mouse skin tumors in vivo. Similarly, several retinoids were tested for their ability to inhibit the phorbol ester-induced release of FN from enucleated cells. The efficacy of the retinoids in preventing FN release paralleled their activity in inhibiting phorbol ester-induced OrnDCase activity and skin tumor promotion, as reported in the literature. We conclude that at least one aspect of tumor promotion induced by phorbol esters--the loss of FN--does not require the cell nucleus, and further, that retinoids can inhibit this aspect of tumor promotion without nuclear involvement.