Differentiation of Friend erythroleukemia cells (FELC) was induced with 1.5% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the culture medium. Cell growth, erythroid differentiation, and radiosensitivity of the proliferative capacity of the cells were measured and compared to a noninduced control culture of identical age. Induced cells first appeared on Day 2 after DMSO addition, and increased to a maximum of 80 to 90% of the cell population on Day 5, whereas in the control culture, induction was less than 2% of the cells. Radiosensitivity of the cells in the induced culture, relative to that of cells in the control culture, showed an age-dependent variation. On Days 1 and 2 after DMSO addition, the cells in the induced culture were more radiosensitive than those in the control culture. At later times this relationship was reversed, and between Days 3 and 5 the clonable cells in the induced culture were less radiosensitive than those in the control culture. These results suggest that the metabolic events associated with commitment of FELC to differentiate affect their ability to cope with the radiation-induced lesions underlying the loss of division capacity.