Sodium butyrate (NaBu) is used as an enhancer for the production of recombinant proteins in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. However, NaBu is well-known for its cytotoxic effect, thereby inducing apoptosis. CHO cells which had been engineered to express a humanised anti-HBV antibody were cultured using serum-free medium, Ex-cell 301. From a seeding density of $2{ imes}10^5$ cells/ml, CHO cells grown with serum-free medium reached a maximum cell density of $1.3{ imes}10^6$ cells/ml after 9 days in culture and produced a maximal antibody concentration of 130 mg/l after 13 days in culture. In the perfusion culture system, CHO cells producing anti-HBV antibody grown in an 7.5 1 bioreactor seeded with $2{ imes}10^5$ cells/ml reached a maximal antibody concentration of 85 mg/1 after 720 h in culture. The addition of 0.3 mM NaBu and lowering culture temperature to $33^{circ}C$ elongated the culture period to 60 days and increased the production yield by 2-fold, compared to control culture.