Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent non-hematopoietic cells capable of differentiating into hepatocytes. Valproic acid (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, has recently exhibited profound therapeutic activity in preclinical tumor test. A research group in China investigated the induction of hepatic differentiation of mouse bone marrow MSCs (mBM-MSCs) by VPA. Direct evidences have been shown that the usefulness of VPA in the trans-differentiation of mBM-MSCs into hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo.