Endogenous carbohydrates, especially oligo- and polysaccharides, participate in the regulation of a broad range of biological activities, e. g., signal transduction, inflammation, fertilisation, cell-cell-adhesion and act as in vivo markers for the determination of cell types. In the present study, water-soluble (WS) and gel-forming polysaccharides (GF) of ispaghula seed husk (Plantago ovata Forsskal, Plantaginaceae) were characterised as neutral and acidic arabinoxylans and tested under in vitro conditions for regulating activities on cell physiology of human keratinocytes and human primary fibroblasts. Only water-soluble polysaccharides exhibited strong and significant effects on cell physiology of keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Proliferation of cells of the spontaneously immortalised keratinocyte cell line HaCaT was significantly up-regulated in a dose-independent manner. Analysis of activated signal pathways by RNA analysis proved an effect of the acidic arabinoxylan on the expression of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in HaCaT cells. Differentiation behaviour of normal human keratinocytes (NHK) determined by involucrin was slightly influenced, due to the enhanced cell proliferation, leading to a cell-cell-mediated indirect induction of early differentiation. WS did not influence late differentiation, as determined by keratin K1 and K10 titres.