1. Surgical trauma has been associated with pre-anaesthesia fasting, anaesthetic toxicity, haemorrhage, hypovolaemic shock, and other pathological phenomena. Tissue glutathione (GSH), thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances (TBAR), and radical-trapping activity (RTA) have been determined at various time intervals after fasting, anaesthesia, and also after hepatic ischaemia and reperfusion as a model for haemorrhage and hypovolaemic shock. 2. Light ether anaesthesia of rats resulted in an immediate (5 min) and progressive decrease in liver and kidney total glutathione (GSH and GSSG), which was much greater in animals that had been fasted for 20 h. TBARs, a measure of lipid peroxidation, in rat liver and kidney increased as total GSH decreased. Fasting (20 h) alone decreased tissue GSH by 50%, and increased TBAR 100%; fasting plus 30 min of ether anaesthesia decreased tissue glutathione by 80 to 85%, and increased TBAR by some 600%. 3. Liver ischaemia alone decreased total liver GSH by 20% in the fed rat, and 50% in the fasted rat. Ischaemia, followed by reperfusion, decreased liver total GSH by 70% in the fed rat, and 90% in the fasted rat. The ratio of GSH/GSSG decreased from 16 in control animals to 7 in the fasted ischaemic rat, then to 1 in the fasted, ischaemic rat reperfused for 90 min. RTA of liver closely paralleled liver total GSH levels. TBAR was increased by ischaemia alone (50-100%), but more (400%) by 90 min reperfusion. 4. A complex series of molecular mechanisms including: (1) GSH depletion; (2) induction of CYP2E1 activity; (3) generation of reactive oxygen species; (4) lipid peroxidation; (5) cytokine release; and (6) leucocyte activation, are advanced to account for the toxic phenomena of surgical trauma and multiple system organ failure.