Retinoic acid receptors (RARs) α, β, and γ are members of the nuclear receptor superfamily. Compounds which bind to and activate the RARs are termed retinoids which regulate a wide variety of biological processes such as vertebrate embryonic morphogenesis and organogenesis, cell growth arrest, differentiation, and apoptosis, as well as their disorders. Although many synthetic selective RARα, RARβ, and RARγ agonists have been designed and prepared, these have generally been lipophilic acids without good drug-like properties and with low oral bioavailability. Recently this has been changing and drug design approaches to highly potent and selective RARα and RARβ agonists with low lipophilicity that are orally bioavailable and less toxic have been developed, that have a range of potential therapeutic uses. This review covers these new advances.

维甲酸受体（RAR）α，β和γ是核受体超家族的成员。结合并激活RAR的化合物称为类视色素，它们可调节多种生物学过程，例如脊椎动物的胚胎形态发生和器官发生，细胞生长停滞，分化和凋亡以及它们的疾病。尽管已经设计和制备了许多合成的选择性RARα，RARβ和RARγ激动剂，但它们通常是亲脂性酸，没有良好的药物样性质，口服生物利用度低。最近，这种情况已经发生了变化，已经开发出了具有低亲脂性，口服生物利用度和低毒性的高效，选择性RARα和RARβ激动剂的药物设计方法，这些方法具有一系列潜在的治疗用途。这篇评论涵盖了这些新进展。