The effects of xanthine + xanthine oxidase-generated reactive oxygen species (ROS) on rabbit muscle creatine kinase (CK) were studied. Xanthine (0.1 mM) + xanthine oxidase (30 mU/ml) inhibited activity of rabbit muscle CK (1.2 mU/ml). Catalase (100 U/ml), but not SOD (100 Uml), deferoxamine (100 microM) or mannitol (20 mM), protected CK from inactivation; suggesting that H2O2 was responsible for inactivation. These results were different from previously reported findings on bovine heart CK that superoxide radicals inactivate the enzyme. Thus, enzymes with homologous structures may have different reactivities to different ROS. H2O2-induced inactivation of rabbit muscle CK was accompanied by a decrease in its thiol group content, whereas no significant changes in the protein structure were detected by SDS-PAGE or carbonyl content. These results suggest that oxidation of -SH groups by H2O2 seems to be a major mechanism of activation of rabbit muscle CK by xanthine + xanthine oxidase. Such inactivation of CK by H2O2 may be important in ROS-induced pathology.