The present study was designed to analyze the growth-inhibitory effects of the combination of fluorouracil (FUra), cisplatin (CDDP), and dipyridamole (DP). These toxic effects were assessed on the human breast-carcinoma cell line MCF-7 using the MTT (tetrazolium bromide) assay in 96-well culture dishes. Data were analyzed using the median-effect principle. The drug combinations tested included FUra concentrations ranging from 0.8 to 800 nmol/l, CDDP concentrations of 0.3-30 mumol/l, and DP concentrations of 2-200 mumol/l. A total of 189 different experimental conditions were tested, including different sequences of administration, with being DP applied before, simultaneously with, or after the two antitumor drugs. Synergistic cytotoxic interactions were found between FUra and CDDP, FUra and DP, and CDDP and DP as well as when the three drugs were combined. The sequence of exposure did not influence the growth-inhibitory activity of the combination FUra-CDDP but altered the effect of combinations of either FUra or CDDP with DP, since at lower concentrations the effect shifted from synergism to antagonism when DP was added simultaneously with CDDP and after the two antitumor drugs. However, the interaction was shown to be truly synergistic by median-effect analysis when the two antitumor drugs were simultaneously associated, with no change in the synergistic effect being observed for the three DP administration sequences.