Stemolecule Sodium Butyrate

Sodium butyrate is the sodium salt of the short-chain fatty acid butyric acid. It is a metabolite of intestinal bacteria, a major energy source for gut epithelial cells, and is known to play a key role in the homeostasis of the gastrointestinal tract 1 . Sodium butyrate is also a known inhibitor of histone deacetylases (HDACs) 2 . HDAC inhibitors are promising anti-tumour agents that work by inhibiting cell proliferation and survival 3 . Along with the cytokines Activin A and acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF), sodium butyrate has been shown to direct the differentiation of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells into hepatocytes 4 . Sodium butyrate has also been reported to increase the efficiency of transfection and expression for both transient and stable transfections 5 .