Oxaliplatin appears non cross-resistant with cisplatin and has a comparable antitumour effect both in preclinical and clinical studies. We compared the antitumour effect of oxaliplatin with that of cisplatin in human neuroblastoma cell lines SK-N-DZ, LAN-1 and BE(2)M17 following 24 h exposure at concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5 microM. Oxaliplatin was less potent with IC50 values 1.08-3.4-fold higher than cisplatin. Like cisplatin, oxaliplatin induced a cell cycle block in the G2/M phase although to a lesser extent than that caused by cisplatin. The concomitant increase of DNA fragmentation and decrease of G2/G1 ratio at 72 h indicated that a fraction of blocked cells underwent apoptosis. Morphological analysis confirmed these data, although oxaliplatin appeared to be 2-3 times less potent than cisplatin in inducing apoptosis. Our results indicate that oxaliplatin is active in neuroblastoma in vitro and this finding warrants in vivo preclinical studies.