Many reports concerning the involvement of active oxygen free radicals in the pathogenesis and progression of acute pancreatitis have been published. In this study, the direct toxic effect of active oxygen free radicals on the rat pancreas was evaluated in vivo. Superoxide anions, generated via the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XO) system, and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were used. After continuous arterial injection of X/XO into the celiac artery hemorrhage and extensive edema developed. However, additional continuous injection of superoxide dismutase (SOD) into the external jugular vein completely suppressed the hemorrhage and relieved the edema. When hydrogen peroxide (100 microM/Kg/hour) was injected continuously through the celiac artery made hemorrhage and edema were recognized in the pancreas, both of which were suppressed by continuous injection of catalase (10 mg/Kg/hour) or gabexate mesilate (10 mg/Kg/hour) into the external jugular vein. The amylase and lipase levels in the intraperitoneal fluid rose to more than 10 times the preoperative values 5 hours after drug administration. These levels were lowered to 2 times the preoperative values by the continuous venous injection of SOD or catalase (which are specific scavengers of superoxide anions or hydrogen peroxide, respectively) or by gabexate mesilate. On the other hand, serum amylase and lipase levels remained almost constant throughout the entire experiment. Thus, the administration of active oxygen free radicals caused acute pancreatitis, which was suppressed by the systemic administration of specific scavengers for each free radical. Active oxygen free radicals were shown to have a direct, toxic effect on the pancreas.