The efflux pump of multidrug resistant mdr cells have different sensitivities to some stereoisomeric forms of CNS-active compounds. The ABC transporters of mdr cells were more sensitive to (-)butaclamol than to its stereoisomeric counterpart (8), which may function to alter the membrane structure. We suppose that the drug-accessible membrane structure possesses an important role in the induction (or prevention) of apoptosis. Therefore the apoptosis-inducing effect of three stereoisomeric pairs was studied on mouse lymphoma cells. In these experiments levo- and dextromepromazine had similiar effects. The cis- and trans-clopenthixol were less effective in apoptosis induction than the 12H-benzo(a)-phenothiazine used as a positive control. The effect of stereoisomeric pairs on induced apoptosis was studied when the cells were exposed to the stereoisomers for 60 minutes before subjection apoptosis induction by benzo(a)phenothiazine, a well-known apoptosis inducer. Then the pretreated cells were exposed to 12H-benzo(a)-phenothiazine for 60 minutes. The samples were washed and incubated for 24 hours. The cells were stained with annexin-V-FITC and propidium iodine and investigated by flow cytometry. The mdr cells with increased membrane integrity may result in the preferential killing of multidrug resistant cancer cells in the presence of some stereoisomers.