To evaluate the genotoxic and nongenotoxic effects of short-term exposure to glycidyl mathacrylate (GMA) on human lung fibroblast cells (2BS cells) in vitro. Methods DNA strand breakage was determined by single cell gel electrophoresis, and DNA ladder formation assay and flow cytometric analysis were carried out to detect apoptic responses of cells to GMA exposure.The HPRT gene mutation assay was used to evaluate the mutagenicity, and the effect of GMA on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in the exposed cells was examined with the scrape loading/dye transfer technique. The ability of GMA to transform 2BS cells was also tested by an in vitro cell transformation assay. Results Exposure to GMA resulted in a dose-dependent increase in DNA strand breaks but not apoptic responses. GMA was also shown to significantly induce HPRT gene mutations and morphological transformation in 2BS cells in vitro. In contrast, GMA produced a concentration-dependent inhibition of GJIC. Conclusions GMA elicits both genotoxic and nongenotoxic effects on 2BS cells in vitro. The induction of DNA damage and gene mutations and inhibition of GJIC by GMA may casually contribute to GMA-induced cell transformation.