Etretinate and Isotretinoin, Two Retinoids with Different Pharmacokinetic Profiles

Abstract

The development of vitamin A analogue compounds for use as therapeutic agents was mainly governed by the challenge to dissociate pharmacological effects from toxic side-effects, known as the hypervitaminosis A syndrome. According to groups of compounds with similar chemical structure within the general class of vitamin A analogues, Bollag1 discriminates three generations of retinoids: (1) chemically modified molecules of retinoic acid (including isomeric compounds), (2) retinoids, in which the $β$-Ionone ring of retinoic acid is exchanged by various other ring systems (e.g. aromatic rings), and (3) analogues with different forms of cyclizations particularly of the polyene side chain.