In this study, we measured the effects of different concentrations of paraquat (0,01 mM and 1,0 mM) on the 1-14CO2 and 6-14CO2 production of rabbit lung slices and isolated alveolar macrophages, in 20% and 95% oxygen phases respectively. A 95% oxygen phase induced an increase in the 6-14C-glucose oxidation of contorol lung slices over a 3-hour period, while the increased activity of the pentose pathway over the first 2 hours started to decline during the third hour of incubation. Paraquat (1,0 mM) in 20% oxygen caused a consistent increase in the 6-14CO2 production by lung slices, but in a 95% oxygen phase gradually inhibited the 6-14C-glucose oxidation over a period of 3 hours. The pentose phosphate pathway was highly significantly stimulated by 1,0 mM paraquat in 20% and 95% oxygen over 3 hours. When isolated alveolar macrophages (viability 95%) were incubated in a 20% and a 95% oxygen phase respectively, both the 6-14C-glucose and 1-14C-glucose oxidation rates were significantly inhibited by 1,0 mM paraquat after 1 hour. Our results confirmed the initial increase in glycolytic metabolism induced by paraquat, but also inhibited by paraquat when lung slices were incubated in a 95% oxygen phase. The fact that the glucose metabolism in alveolar macrophages is more sensitive to paraquat exposure than that of cells in lung slices may be related to the genesis of the intra-aveolar pulmonary lesions described in the literature.