The role of the active oxygens on plasmid DNA damage by carbonyl compounds derived from Maillard reaction was investigated. Plasmid DNA extracted from E. coli Hb1O1 was reacted with carbonyl compounds, such as glyoxal, methyl glyoxal, dihydroxyacetone, diacetyl, glyceraldehyde, glycolaldehyde and furfural with and without the active oxygen scavengers at 37$^{circ}C$ for 6 hours, and then the degree of damage was determined by using 1 ％ agarose gel electro-phoresis. All of the carbonyl compounds except furfural caused to damage of DNA. Among these, glyoxal, methyl glyoxal and dihydroxyacetone markedly induced the damage of DNA. On the other hand, the DNA damage by the carbonyl compounds was greatly inhibited by catalase, superoxide dismutase and $alpha$-tocopherol it is considered that the damage of DNA is due to active oxygens, such as singlet oxygen, hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion generated during the autoxidation of carbonyl compounds.