The technique of alkaline elution was applied to study the capacity of methylglyoxal to induce DNA damage and repair in Chinese hamster ovary cells. DNA cross-linking was observed after a 90-min exposure to a subtoxic dose (1.5 mM), and the cross-links were fully repaired by 24 h. The cross-linking appeared to be DNA-protein in nature, since proteinase treatment removed the effect. When the same cells were exposed to methylglyoxal in the presence of a rat liver metabolic system, both cytotoxicity and cross-linking frequency were significantly reduced.