ICR 2A frog cells and two solar ultraviolet (UV)-sensitive cell lines, DRP 36 and DRP 153, were irradiated with 150 kJ/m2 of the UV radiation produced by a fluorescent sun lamp, the radiation from which was passed through a sheet of 48A Mylar (DuPont, Wilmington, DE) to eliminate wavelengths shorter than approximately 315 nm. The irradiated cultures were also exposed to photoreactivating light (PRL), resulting in the removal of most of the pyrimidine dimers induced by the sun lamp UV irradiation, and then incubated 0-4 hr. At the end of the incubations, the cells were subjected to the alkaline elution assay. In these elutions, the cell lysates were either treated with proteinase K (proK) to eliminate any DNA-protein crosslinks (DPC) that may be present in the cells, or left untreated with proK. For the ICR 2A cells, the level of apparent DNA single-strand breaks (ssb) detected in elutions using proK increased with the incubation time after irradiation and remained high. However, when the DNA was eluted without proK pretreatment, the number of ssb fell rapidly. In contrast, the levels of ssb decreased in the DRP 36 and DRP 153 cells regardless of the use of proK in the elutions. Hence, this differential response in ssb induction may be indicative of a system involved with recovery following irradiation with solar UV wavelengths.