Abstract: [Abstract] objective To study the effects of exogenous N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) on hyaluronic acid (HA) production in human epidermal keratinocytes （HEKa）. Methods The cell proliferation、HA production and the expression of hyaluronic acid synthetase (HAS1、HAS2 and HAS3 )mRNA affected by NAG in HEKa cells were separately measured by MTT、ELISA and RT-PCR methods. Results The result of MTT indicated that NAG at 1mM/L、3mM/L and 5mM/L had no effect on cell proliferation of HEKa cells (P>0.05), but NAG at 10 mM/L significantly inhibited the cell proliferation (P<0.05)；The results of ELISA showed that NAG promoting HA production in HEKa cells in dose dependence（P<0.01），and the best concentration was 5mM/L. The results of RT-PCR showed that NAG had no effect on the expression of HAS1、HAS2 and HAS3 mRNA in HEKa cells. Conclusions Exogenous NAG had promoting effect on HA synthesis of HEKa, but no effect on expression of HAS mRNA.

Key words: N-Acetylglucosamine, Human epidermal keratinocytes, Hyaluronic acid, Hyaluronic acid synthetase