The smooth endoplasmic reticulum in hepatocytes of early postnatal and adult ddY male mice injected with phenobarbital was analyzed stereologically. The animals received daily intraperitoneal injections of phenobarbital and were killed about 24 h after the last injection. In early postnatal animals (injected with 35 mg/kg of the drug at days 1 and 2 after birth, or injected with 35 mg/kg at day 2 and with 50 mg/kg at days 3 and 4 after birth), the smooth endoplasmic reticulum proliferated both in perivenular and periportal hepatocytes; there was no significant difference in amount of smooth endoplasmic reticulum between the cells of the two zones. In adult animals, however, proliferation occurred only in perivenular cells after the administration of 35 mg/kg of phenobarbital for 2 days, and predominantly in perivenular cells even after the administration of 150 mg/kg of the drug for 7 days. These results suggest that the conspicuous proliferation of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum in perivenular hepatocytes in response to phenobarbital administration, which is characteristic of adult liver, does not occur in early postnatal mice but becomes manifest during postnatal development.