The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether inhibition of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase with acetazolamide interfered with pancreatic islet and whole splanchnic blood perfusion in rats. Carbonic anhydrase is present both in the endocrine cells and, in particular, the endothelium of the pancreatic islet. Thiobutabarbital-anaesthetized, male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in all experiments, and acetazolamide (50 mg/kg body weight) was given to untreated control rats or rats pretreated with glucose, i.e. to normoglycaemic and hyperglycaemic animals. No acetazolamide-induced effects on blood glucose or serum insulin concentrations, mean arterial blood pressure, whole pancreatic or islet blood flow were seen in any of the animals. There were no effects on duodenal or colonic blood flow recorded in the control rats, whereas an increase in duodenal blood flow (P<0.02) was observed in the hyperglycaemic animals. A tendency to an increase was seen in colonic blood flow in hyperglycaemic animals, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.069). Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase seems to induce only minor effects on pancreatic blood flow, while duodenal blood flow is slightly enhanced in hyperglycaemic animals.