OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of chronic pancreatitis (CP) on serum concentrations of amino acids. METHODS Thirty-five male patients with alcoholic CP and 21 healthy male subjects were examined. Serum concentrations of amino acids were assayed by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography with mass detection. RESULTS Serum glutamate concentration was increased in CP patients as compared to controls. In contrast, serum concentrations of glutamine, histidine, tyrosine, proline, tryptophan and threonine were significantly decreased in CP patients. A trend towards decreasing concentrations of serum lysine, alanine, methionine and valine as well as for total serum amino acids was observed. The sum of aromatic and the sum of essential amino acid concentrations were significantly lower in CP patients than in controls. CONCLUSIONS CP leads to decreased serum concentrations of several amino acids, such as essential and aromatic serum amino acids, most likely due to decreased exocrine function.