Retinoglycolipid formation will be studied in Vitamin A deficiency compared to normals to find out if this is a key physiological reaction in the assembly of certain mammalian glycoproteins. In addition of monoglycosyl retinoglycolipids higher molecular weight compounds containing oligosaccharides are formed on a retinoid molecule and the oligosaccharide is transferred onto glycoprotein acceptors. The oligosaccharide chain will be studied with respect to the number of sugar residues and their modes of linkage. The retinoid portion, which appears to be different from retinol will be studied using mass spectroscopic data. Certain promising retinoid analogues like retinoic acid epoxyvitamin A and C19-retinaldehyde will be examined for their ability to form similar glycloipids and donation of the sugar residue to glycoprotein acceptors. We plan to study the question as to what is the natural acceptor for Xylose. Similar studies for N-acetyl glucosamine galactose and mannose will be carried out. Direct effects of retinoids on normal and preneoplastic cell differentiation can be measured in organ culture. We plan to study the effect of these retinoglycolipids in reversing keratinisation as well as their ability to prevent cancer in experimental animals.