1. We investigated the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of (+/-)-sotalol administered orally to healthy male volunteers in single doses of 40, 80 and 160 mg and in multiple doses of 80 mg twice daily for 7 consecutive days. 2. In the single dose studies, the half-life of (-)-sotalol (7.2-8.5 h) was significantly (P < 0.01) shorter than that of (+)-sotalol (9.1-11.4 h) while the renal clearance of (-)-sotalol (110.6-126.4 ml min-1) was significantly (P < 0.01) faster than that of (+)-sotalol (102.2-110.1 ml min-1). In the multiple dose studies, similar differences in the pharmacokinetics of (+)- and (-)-sotalol were observed. In addition, the pharmacokinetics of both (+)- and (-)-sotalol on day 4 were shown to be essentially the same as those on day 7. 3. In pharmacodynamic examinations, (+/-)-sotalol prolonged QTc intervals on electrocardiograms dose-dependently after single doses of 80 and 160 mg (3.81 +/- 2.96%, 13.23 +/- 5.66%). The correlation between the plasma concentration of (+/-)-sotalol and prolongation of QTc intervals was nearly linear, and showed no hysteresis. 4. In conclusion, we demonstrated that QTc interval was prolonged with a linear correlation to the plasma concentration of (+/-)-sotalol. In addition, our study suggested that differences in the pharmacokinetics of (+)- and (-)-sotalol may be attributable to faster urinary excretion of (-)-sotalol.