The effects of different doses of acute and continuous gamma-irradiation on the synthetic activity of rat blood lymphocytes stained with acridine orange were studied by fluorescent microspectrometry. Male rats were exposed to acute gamma-irradiation with doses of 7.5, 4 and 3 Gy, or to continuous irradiation with dose rates of 14.4, 2.1, 1.1 and 0.43 cGy/day, respectively. The changes of the synthetic activity of blood lymphocytes occurred in three main stages after acute gamma-irradiation and in four stages under continuous irradiation. The stages reflect the processes of depression and activation of the immune system under irradiation. Essential differences between the acute and continuous effects were observed in the first stage. After acute gamma-irradiation, the synthetic activity decreased sharply, indicating the predominant contribution of the damaging effect of irradiation, whereas under continuous irradiation, as a result of the stimulatory effect of low-dose irradiation, the synthetic activity increased during the first stage.