Summary. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cycling status of cord blood (CB)-derived colony-forming cells (CFC) and long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-IC), and their recruitment into the S-phase of the cell cycle. By using the cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) suicide approach, we found that only small proportions of both CFC and LTC-IC were in the S-phase of the cell cycle. These estimates were con®rmed by¯ow cytometric DNA analysis, which showed that 96 6 2% of CB-derived CD34 cells were in G 0 /G 1 and only 1´6 6 0´4% in the S-phase. Staining of CD34 cells with an antistatin monoclonal antibody, a marker of the G 0 phase, indicated that among CD34 cells with a¯ow cytometric DNA content typical of the G 0 /G 1 phase 68 6 7% of cells were in the G 0 phase of the cell cycle. Incubation (24 h) with interleukin 3 (IL-3), recombinant human stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) signi®cantly increased the proportion of cells in the S-phase for both CFC and LTC-IC without inducing any loss in numbers. Flow cytometric DNA analysis also showed an increase in CD34 cells in the S-phase upon continuous exposure to these cytokines. Our ®ndings indicate that: (i) very few CB-derived CFC or LTC-IC were in the S-phase of the cell cycle; (ii) a substantial amount of CD34 cells with ā ow cytometric DNA content typical of the G 0 /G 1 fraction was cycling, as found in the G 1 phase of the cell cycle; and (iii) 24-h incubation with IL-3, SCF and G-CSF could drive a proportion of progenitor cells into the S-phase without reducing their number. These data might be useful for gene transfer protocols and the ex vivo expansion of CB-derived progenitor cells.