Product Overview

Stemolecule™ Valproic Acid is the highest purity preparation available, only from Stemgent. Valproic acid (VPA; sodium valproate) is a cell-permeable, short-chain fatty acid that inhibits histone deacetylase (HDAC; IC50 = 400 μM for HDAC1) and induces differentiation of certain cell lines. At concentrations ranging from 0.35 mM to 1.04 mM, VPA causes inositol depletion, inhibits GSK-3β and GSK-3β, activates the ERK pathway, produces neurotropic effects, and s timulates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) activity. Dr. Douglas Melton's laboratory has reported that VPA improves the efficiency of reprogramming mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells compared to other DNA methyltransferase and HDAC inhibitors¹. The efficiency of generating iPS cells when treated with VPA was 100 fold higher compared to MEFs transduced with four transcription factors (Oct4, Klf4, Sox2, and c-Myc) alone. Also, VPA enhanced iPS generation in a three-factor transduction (Oct4, Klf4 and Sox2) without introduction of the c-Myc oncogene that might be tumorigenic in cells derived from iPS cells¹.

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References

1. Huangfu, D. et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 2008, (published online June 22^nd 2008).