The influence of oxidative stress by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was examined in mouse primary cultured hepatocytes. A change in morphology was observed in hepatocytes incubated for 30 min in saline A containing H2O2. The percentage of dead cells, as measured by the fluorescence method, was increased in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, a ladder-like DNA fragmentation pattern was detected by agarose gel electrophoresis 1 h after exposure to 3 mM H2O2. This phenomenon was prolonged for 24 h. Hydrogen peroxide-induced cell viability reduction and DNA fragmentation were dose-dependently protected by the addition of antioxidants (N-acetylcysteine, L-ascorbic acid), a metal-chelator (1,10-phenanthroline), iron-chelator (deferoxamine) and intracellular calcium ion chelator (quin 2-AM). No influence, however, was detected by endonuclease inhibitors (zinc, aurintricarboxylic acid) and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (3-aminobenzamide, theophylline). These results following H2O2-induced cell viability reduction suggested that oxidative stress by H2O2 itself or H2O2-derived changes involved in ferrous or intracellular calcium ions resulted in apoptosis in mouse primary cultured hepatocytes. These phenomena are not likely to be associated with endonuclease or poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase.