Previously we established that 'LEC rats' have displayed spontaneous fulminant hepatitis with severe jaundice, which progressed to liver cancer, and a single autosomal recessive gene is responsible for the cause of the diseases. The activities of drug metabolizing enzymes were assayed in livers from LEC and control (LEA) rats at 4 weeks and 3 months before the onset of liver cancer. At 4 weeks the cytochrome P-450 content of the LEC rat livers was 43% of the control (LEA) value. At 3 months the level was 65% of the control. Epoxide hydrolase, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and UDP-glucuronyltransferase activities were 2.6-, 6.9- and 2.4-times higher than those in the LEA rats at 4 weeks, respectively, while glutathione S-transferase activity was not significantly different between the two strains. The enzyme changes in the LEC rats are quite similar to those observed in hyperplastic foci and nodules in chemical carcinogenesis of hepatocytes.