Cell wall (lactic acid bacteria-sonicated precipitate ; LAB-SP) and cytosoll(lactic acid bacteria-sonicated supernatant ; LAB-SS) fractions were prepared from kimchi fermenting lactic acid bacteria such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus fermentum , Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici, with Lactobacillus acidophillus isolated from yogurt. Using the Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chormotest system, the antimutagenic acitivity of those cell fractions was studied . One hundered eighty $mu$l of LAB-SP from lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi, excepting Pediococcus acidilactici, supressed the mutagenicity of 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide(4-NQO) in Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chromotes system , by above 90% and 60% , respectively. LAB-SP from lactic acid bacteria also inhibited the mutagenicity mediated by 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido [4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-2). Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus acidphillus had higher antimutagenicity against Trp-P-2). Lactobacillus fermentum , Lactobacillus plantarum , and Lactobacillus acidphillus had higher antimutagenicity against Trp-P-2 than the other lactic acid bacteria. However, LAB-SS of lactic acid bacteria did not show any mutagenic activity against 4-NQO in Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chromotest systems. On the mutagenicity of MEIQ and Trp-P-2 , LAB-SS of lactic acid bacteria from kimchi or dairy products exhibited a weaker inhibitory effect than LAB-SP of those bacteria. These results represent that, whether the lactic acid bacteria from kimchi are viable or nonviable, antimutagenic acitivity was still effective. We suggest that the strong, antimutaganic activity of lactic acid bacteria might be found in the cell wall fraction , rather than in the cytosol fraction.