Comparison of double hydroxyurea and hydroxyurea-excess thymidine blockades as synchronizing procedures in cultured L5178Y cells revealed that hydroxyurea mimics the effect of thymidine as regards the degree of the resulting synchrony evaluated by the mitotic index and 3H-thymidine incorporating activity. However, the peaks of the mitotic and 3H-incorporating activity appear later after thymidine than after hydroxyurea blockade and the initial maximum incorporation of 3H-deoxycytidine into DNA was about twice higher in thymidine- than in hydroxyurea-treated cells. On the other hand, the timing of 14C-formate incorporation into purine DNA bases was closely similar in both cell populations.