Abstract: Prostaglandin E₁(PGE₁) has been proven to be effective in the treatment of chronic skin ulcers and wounds.To elucidate the possible mechanism involved,normal human keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts were cultured with PGE₁.Cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay and cytokine production by enzyme-linked immunosobent assay (ELISA).The results revealed that keratinocytes produced IL-1α,IL-8,TGFα and PDGF,while dermal fihroblasts produced IL-6 and IL-8,suggesting dif-ferent kinds of cytokine production between keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts.PGE₁ promoted IL-6 and IL-8 production in dermal fibroblasts but not in keratinocytes.Moreover,PGE₁ promoted cell prolif-eration in dermal fibroblasts but not in keratinocytes,suggesting that dermal fibroblasts are more sensi-tive than keratinocytes to PGE₁ and that the therapeutic effects of topical PGE₁ on skin ulcer or wound may mainly be mediated by its effects on dermal fibroblasts.

Key words: Prostaglandin E₁, Keratinocyte, Fibroblast