In the present study, we tried to investigate whether polymerized basic amino acid e.g. poly-L-lysine (PLL) which has the degree of polymerization under 50mer significantly affects the physiological and stimulated mucin release from cultured hamster tracheal surface epithelial cells. Confluent primary hamster tracheal surface epithelial (HTSE) cells were metabolically radiolabeled with $^3{H}$-glucosamine for 24 hr and chased for 30 min in the presence of either PLLs or adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and PLL to assess the effects on basic or ATP-stimulated $^3{H}$-mucin release. Possible cytotoxicities of PLLs were assessed by measuring lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release from HTSE cel1s during treatment. The results were as follows: PLLs significantly inhibited basic mucin release from cultured HTSE cells in a dose-dependent manner from the range of 46mer to 14mer; PLL 46mer significantly inhibited the stimulated mucin release by ATP from cultured HTSE cells; there was no significant release of LDH from cultured HTSE cells during treatment. We conclude that PLLs inhibit both physiological and stimulated mucin release from airway epithelial cells without significant cytotoxicity and PLL lost its activity under the range of 14mer. This finding suggests that polymer of basic amino acid like PLL might function as a regulator for hypersecretion of mucus manifested in various respiratory diseases.