We report the effect of human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (hG-CSF) on the recovery from granulocytopenia induced by irradiation. Female 9-week old C3H/He mice were used. The irradiation schedule was as follows: Group 1 and 2 received whole-body irradiation of 1 Gy and 5 Gy, respectively, on day 0; Group 3 and 4 received whole-body irradiation of 0.5 and 1.0 Gy, respectively, for 5 consecutive days; Group 5 received upper hemibody irradiation of 3 Gy for 5 consecutive days. Daily subcutaneous injections of G-CSF (3 x 10(5) Unit/mouse) or 0.3 ml of saline to each group were started from the day after the first irradiation and continued for 18 days. Mice were sampled randomly from each group, and the total number of leukocytes, erythrocytes of peripheral blood, nucleated cells in femur, and spleen weight were counted and measured, respectively, on day 0, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, and 18. The leukocyte counts decreased with an increase in radiation doses. In Group 1 and 2 mice, G-CSF enhanced the leukocyte count more than saline. In Group 3 mice, the recovery of leukocytopenia was facilitated by G-CSF, but in Group 4 mice, G-CSF had no effect on the leukocyte count decrease or on leukocytopenia recovery. In Group 5 mice, G-CSF greatly affected leukocytopenia recovery. Increase in spleen weight paralleled the peripheral leukocyte count. Daily administration of recombinant hG-CSF accelerated the granulocytopenia recovery which was induced by irradiation, and it may be a useful therapeutic agent for treating myelosuppressive cases.