Multiple halothane anesthesias (1.25 MAC for 1 hr on 3 alternate days) of male Long-Evans rats initially decreased by up to 30% and subsequently increased to up to 185% liver cytosolic glutathione S-transferase activity toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 3,4-dichloro-1-nitrobenzene and trans-4-phenyl-3-buten-2-one and glutathione peroxidase activity. Halothane rapidly and reversibly activated hepatic cytosolic glutathione S-transferases and purified isoenzyme 1-2 but not isoenzymes 1-1 and 3-3. At high concentrations of halothane (ca. 22 mM), maximal activation was ca. 25%. Halothane, enflurane, isoflurane and methoxyflurane, but not the halothane metabolite 1-chloro-2,2-difluoroethylene, inhibited a mixture of liver cytosolic glutathione S-transferases with time (ca. 30% inhibition/15 min). The inhibition exhibited pseudo-first order kinetics (kobs = 0.13 min-1) and an I50 for halothane of greater than or equal to 15 mM. Halothane inhibited glutathione S-transferases 3-3, 3-4, and 4-4 by 50-60%, but did not affect isoenzymes 1-1 and 1-2. The ability of halothane to diminish hepatic glutathione S-transferase activity in vivo may in part reflect the time-dependent inhibition of glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes containing the 3- and 4-subunits.