The present investigation was performed to elucidate the effect of pretreatment with low dose ultraviolet radiation (UV) and ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) on cell survival by trypan blue dye exclusion method and plasma membrane glycoconjugates by lectin-cytochemistry in sarcoma 180 (S180) cells. Pretreatment with 2 J/$m^2$ UV or 2 mM EMS increased the percentage of survival of cells subsequently treated with high dose UV (10 or 20 J/$m^2$) or EMS (10 or 20 mM), respectively. Staining intensity of concanavalin A (Con A) of the cells pretreated with 2J/$m^2$ UV or 2 mM EMS and subsequently treated with 10 or 20 mM EMS was stronger than that of the cellstreated with 10 or 20 mM EMS. These results suggest that there is an adaptive response on cell survival to EMS or UV in S180 cells. And the results show a change in mannose-containing glycoconjugates of plasma membrane in S180 cells pretreated with EMS or UV and subsequently treated with EMS.