Epigenetic effects of vitamin C on differentiation of neural stem cells

Vitamin C, is an antioxidant that maintains the activity of iron and alpha-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase. Vitamin C has been shown to enhance neuronal yields from cultured stem cells but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet elucidated. Interestingly, a few recent studies have shown that vitamin C induces widespread demethylation by activating Tet methylcytosine dioxygenase and jumonji C (JmjC) domain containing histone demethylase, suggesting an epigenetic regulation by vitamin C. To investigate vitamin C induced changes in DNA methylation, hydroxymethylation and enhancers in a genome-wide manner, we profiled the transcriptome, DNA methylome, hydroxymethylome and enhancer associated histone marks of rat neural stem cells (NSCs) and differentiated neuron cells treated with or without vitamin C using RNA-seq, MBD-seq, hMeDIP-seq, and Chip-seq (H3K4me1, H3K27Ac), respectively.