The recent availability of a 99.9% UVA source has made possible studies that show that low energy wavelengths, previously considered innocuous, significantly affected wound healing in hairless guinea pigs. Decreased wound tensile strength and a slower rate of wound contraction in irradiated animals were among the changes noted. Because of their advocated role in the wound healing process, fibroblasts were chosen to study the effects of pure UVA exposure at a cellular level. 3H-thymidine uptake levels were measured in 8 groups of fibroblast cultures (12 samples/group). The cultures were exposed to varying concentrations of pure UVA. Previously incorporated 14C-thymidine levels were used to compensate for differences in cell numbers between samples. At a fluence of 3.65 x 10(-3) watts/cm2, a significant decrease in 3H-thymidine incorporation (compared to controls) was seen for all exposure periods and there was a dose-dependent decrease only in 3H-thymidine uptake for cells exposed to 1-4 min of UVA. Using post-exposure incubations of 2-16 h, a time-dependent recovery of 3H-thymidine uptake was also demonstrated, from 40% of control at 4 h, to 75% at 8 h, and 99% at 16 h. The near-complete recovery at 16 h was seen in exposures up to 2.73 joules/cm2 (12 min), whereas higher concentrations showed only partial recovery. These studies demonstrated the deleterious, though reversible, effects of UVA on fibroblasts and suggest a possible pathophysiologic process for UVA's effect on wound healing in this animal model.