Skin fibroblasts from normal human subjects were exposed in vitro to long-wave ultraviolet radiation (UVA, 320-400 nm) alone, or in combination with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP). DNA damage was analysed with the alkaline elution technique before and after post-treatment incubation of the cells at 37 degrees C for various times. Cells treated with UVA at 1.1 J/cm/ showed an increased DNA elution rate, which returned to the normal level within 30 min of post-treatment incubation. In cells treated with PUVA (8-MOP at 20 microgram/ml plus UVA at 0.04 J/cm2), the alkaline elution rate was not different from untreated control cells, either before or after post-treatment incubation for time up to 7 days. When the PUVA treatment was followed first by a washing, to remove any unbound 8-MOP, and then by UVA (PUVA + UVA) at 1.1 J/cm2, the alkaline elution rate decreased below the control level. During the post-treatment incubation of the PUVA + UVA-treated cells there was a gradual increase of the alkaline elution rate to a level significantly above that in control cells. This increase was observed after 30 min. It reached a maximum after 24 h and remained after 7 days of post-treatment incubation. Cells from a patient with xeroderma pigmentosum of complementation group A, which were given the same PUVA + UVA treatment, did not show any change in the alkaline elution rate during the post-treatment incubation. If, as seems likely, an increased alkaline elution rate indicates as increase of DNA breaks, and a decreased alkaline elution rate indicates the sealing of breaks and/or the formation of cross-links, and results would suggest the following: (1) UVA irradiation in itself is capable of inducing DNA breaks, which are rapidly sealed during post-treatment incubation; (2) PUVA treatment induces mono-adducts, some of which appear to remain in the DNA for at least 7 days of post-treatment incubation and can be activated to form DNA cross-links by a second dose of UVA; (3) DNA cross-links induced by PUVA + UVA can be recognized by a repair process that involves the formation of DNA breaks. This process is not observed in xeroderma pigmentosum cells of group A.