This study was designed to examine whether and how glutathione and catalase increase the resistance of osteosarcoma cells to the toxicity of cisplatin. Eight osteosarcoma cell lines were exposed to varying concentrations of cisplatin, and a [3H]thymidine incorporation study then estimated their drug sensitivity. Cells were pretreated with aminotriazole and buthionine sulfoximine to depress catalase and glutathione activities and then entered into the same protocol to assess their sensitivity to cisplatin. Intracytoplasmic levels of catalase and glutathione were measured before and after the treatments. Cisplatin-glutathione conjugates were created to examine how glutathione might depress the toxicity of cisplatin. Although the cell lines differed in the magnitude of their response to cisplatin, there was a statistical correlation between intrinsic glutathione content and cisplatin resistance. Pretreatment with aminotriazole reduced catalase activity by 84% but did not change the sensitivity to cisplatin. Depletion of glutathione activity by 70% increased the sensitivity of the cells to the cytotoxicity of cisplatin. In addition, cisplatin was detoxified following conjugation with glutathione. The increased sensitization to cisplatin toxicity caused by the depletion of glutathione and cisplatin detoxification after the in vitro reaction of glutathione to cisplatin indicated that the formation of the glutathione-cisplatin conjugate was an important mechanism in the cellular resistance to cisplatin. These data also demonstrated that catalase activity did not contribute to resistance to cisplatin and suggested that H2O2-induced oxidative stress did not significantly contribute to the cytotoxicity of cisplatin in osteosarcoma cells.