The dorsal skin of hairless mice (Skh:HR-1) was treated with multiple applications of acetone, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) or ethyl phenylpropionate (EPP) two times per week, or exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) three times per week for treatment periods up to 16 weeks. Epidermal hyperplasia, as measured by epidermal thickness, was increased in all three treatment groups after a single (0.5 weeks) TPA, EPP, or UVR treatment. TPA- and EPP-induced hyperplasia had begun to subside by 16 weeks, whereas UVR-induced hyperplasia was still increasing at that point. Epidermal homogenates were examined for ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity 6 h after the final treatment at 0.5, 2, 8, and 16 weeks of treatment. ODC activity was elevated in all treatment groups (TPA greater than EPP greater than UVR), with UVR induction returning to near control (acetone) levels by 16 weeks even though the UVR-induced hyperplasia continued to increase at the 16-week point. Homogenates examined for superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and xanthine oxidase (XO) activity 48 h after the final treatment at 0.5, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks had decreased activities of both SOD and CAT. TPA and EPP elevated XO, but UVR had little or no effect. Our data indicate that promoter-induced hyperplasia persists for extended periods of time and that diminution of antioxidant defenses observed following prolonged tumor-promoter treatment persists through the time period when tumors would be expected to begin. This antioxidant diminution may be one of a cascade of events that leads to epidermal proliferation and tumor promotion in mouse skin.