Black carrot extract protects against hepatic injury through epigenetic modifications.

We studied the epigenetic regulation of how black carrot extract (BCE) protects against ethanol-induced hepatic damage. We have shown that the butanol-extracted fraction of BCE (BCE-BuOH) increased intracellular cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels by suppressing the expression of phosphodiesterase 4b (PDE4b); however, the detailed mechanism remains to be elucidated. We focused on changes in histone modifications involved in the suppression of pde4 expression. The methylation level of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9), which regulates gene expression of PDE4b, decreased after treatment with 100 mM ethanol but was significantly increased by treatment with 400 µg/ml BCE-BuOH. In contrast, ethanol induced an increase in H3K9 acetylation. However, treatment with BCE-BuOH inhibited the increase in acetylation through an increase in Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1), a histone deacetylase. Furthermore, BCE-BuOH treatment increased the level of methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) 2a mRNA and increased intracellular S-adenosylmethionine. The present results indicate that BCE-BuOH is useful for protection against alcohol-induced hepatic injury. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: We have reported that black carrot extract (BCE) suppressed liver steatosis and liver fibrosis on a rat alcoholic liver disease model. The results from this study have shown that BCE regulated the alcoholic-induced hepatic injury at the level of epigenetic modifications. These results suggested that BCE is useful for protection against alcoholic-induced hepatic injury.