Rats chronically exposed to acrylonitrile (ACN) have shown a dose-dependent increase in the incidence of astrocytomas in the brain. The mechanism(s) by which ACN induces cancer in rodents has not been established. ACN does not appear to be directly genotoxic in the brain and thus a nongenotoxic mode of action has been proposed. Inhibition of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) has been shown to be a property of many nongenotoxic carcinogens. The present study examined the effects of ACN on GJIC in a rat astrocyte transformed cell line, DI TNC1 cells (a target cell for ACN carcinogenicity) and primary cultured hepatocytes (a nontarget cell for ACN carcinogenicity). ACN inhibited GJIC in rat astrocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Inhibition of GJIC was observed following 2 h treatment with 0.10 mmol/L and 1.00 mmol/L ACN. However, in primary cultured hepatocytes, ACN exposed did not result in inhibition of GJIC even after 48 h of continued treatment. In the astrocytes, GJIC inhibition plateaued after 4 h of treatment and remained blocked throughout the entire experimental period examined. Inhibition of GJIC in DI TNC1 cells was reversed by removal of ACN from the culture medium after 4 or 24 h of treatment. Cotreatment of astrocytes with vitamin E reduced the effect of ACN-induced inhibition of GJIC. Similarly, inhibition of GJIC was prevented by treatment with 2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (OTC), a precursor of glutathione synthesis. Decreasing cellular glutathione by treatment with buthionine sulfoxamine alone (without ACN) did not affect GJIC in astrocytes. Collectively, these results demonstrate that treatment with ACN caused a selective inhibition of GJIC in rat DI TNC1 astrocytes (the target cell type), but not in rat hepatocytes (a nontarget tissue). Inhibition of GJIC in astrocytes was reversed by treatment with antioxidants and suggests a potential role for oxidative stress in ACN-induced carcinogenesis.