A nuclear poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) is activated by gamma-irradiation and consequently synthesizes poly(ADP-ribose) by binding to DNA strand-breaks. This property suggests that PARP is a DNA strand-break-signal generator. Meanwhile, the cell-cycle arrest occurs in G1 and G2 phases following gamma-irradiation. We found that PARP inhibitors including 3-aminobenzamide (3-AB) suppressed G1 arrest and enhanced G2 arrest following gamma-irradiation. These observations suggested that PARP is critical for the induction of G1 arrest and is also involved in the regulation of G2 arrest. Furthermore, the effects of 3-AB on the G1-arrest signal-transduction pathway were also studied. We found that p53 stabilization following gamma-irradiation was not inhibited but the p53-responsive transient increases of WAF1/CIP1/p21 and MDM-2 mRNA were suppressed by 3-AB. Therefore, it is suggested that PARP participates in G1-arrest signal-transduction pathway through the modulation of WAF1/CIP1/p21 and MDM-2 mRNA expression.