Objective      To investigate the changes of histone acetylation of cardiac-specific genes GATA4

NKX2.5 and MEF2C whose protein expression increased during islet-1-induced C3H10T1/2 cells differentiation into myocardial cells.       Methods      Mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells C3H10 were transfected with the lentiviral vector containing islet-1 gene. Western blotting was applied to detect the expression of acetylated histone H3 after transfection

and reverse transcription PCR and real-time PCR were applied for sequentially detecting the peak time of the mRNA expression of cardiac-specific genes GATA4

NKX2.5 and MEF2C. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) was applied to detect the levels of histone H3 acetylation on the promoters of the cardiac-specific genes and fluorescence quantitative PCR was applied to amplify the precipitated genes.       Results      The level of histone H3 acetylation in the C3H10T1/2 cells with highly expressed islet-1 was 3.04 times higher than that in the normal cells (P0.05). At the peak time (the second week) of the mRNA expression of cardiac-specific genes GATA4

NKX2.5 and MEF2c

the quantity of cardiac-specific genes GATA4

NKX2.5 and MEF2c bound to acetylated H3 antibody significantly increased in the transfected cells compared with that in the untransfected cells (P0.05).       Conclusion      Islet-1-induced C3H10T1/2 cells differentiation into myocardial cells promotes histone acetylation of cardiac-specific genes.