Karyotypic studies of human gliomas are often limited by a low mitotic index and the appearance of contracted chromosomes that do not exhibit clear banding patterns. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of hydroxyurea (HU) as a synchronizing agent using established human glioma cell lines as a model system. HU was shown to reversibly inhibit cellular replication in glioma cell lines U-251MG, D-245MG, D-247MG and D-263MG by flow cytometry on the basis of DNA content. Two-to sixfold increases were demonstrated in the mitotic index of HU-treated cultures exhibiting the greatest percentage of cells in the G2/M phases of the cell cycle. HU, therefore, promises to be an effective agent for use in short term cultures from biopsied human tumors to increase the quality of chromosome preparations in these tumors.