The effects of acute administration of chlorpromazine (CPZ) and perphenazine (PPZ) on hepatic microsomal phospholipids (PLs) and enzyme activities in the male rat were examined in order to elucidate the relationship between individual PLs and drug-metabolizing activity. Cytochrome P-450 and aniline (AN) hydroxylation activity were initially decreased in CPZ-treated rats, but cytochrome P-450 subsequently recovered to a level not significantly different from the control and AN hydroxylation was markedly increased, while in PPZ-treated rats, they remained depressed. CPZ increased the activities of glycerophosphate acyltransferase (GPA) and choline phosphotransferase (CPT), while PPZ increased the activities of phosphatidate cytidylyltransferase (PCT), phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PPH) and CPT. Concurrently, CPZ raised microsomal phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine-inositol (PSI) and sphingomyelin (SM), while PPZ increased PC and PE, but did not affect the levels of PSI and SM. Acyl components of phospholipids were also modified. CPZ significantly decreased the ratio of saturated to unsaturated fatty acids, particularly in the PC and PE fractions, while the effect of PPZ was only slight. The results imply that an increase of AN hydroxylation activity may involve the incorporation of unsaturated fatty acids into enzyme-associated PC and PE.