Effect of sodium butyrate treatment of HeLa cells on the transcriptional activity of their isolated nuclei.

Sodium n-butyrate has been used as a tool to study the presumptive effects of the in vivo hyperacetylation of histones from HeLa cells on the transcriptional activity of their isolated nuclei. No gross differences were found in either initiation or RNA synthetic capacity among the nuclei from control or butyrate treated cells. The electrophoretic pattern of the RNA synthesized in nuclear suspensions was markedly affected by prior exposure of the cells to the fatty acid.