Massive liver injury was produced in fasting male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 200 +/- 25 gm each by gastric administration of 1400 mg/kg acetaminophen. The time sequence of changes in liver ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity, which reflects the earliest phases of cell multiplication, liver thymidine kinase (TK) activity, which reflects DNA synthesis, and liver histology (necrosis, mitosis, and repair processes) was recorded. ODC showed the usual biphasic response. By 12 hours, it reached its first peak, a six- to eightfold increase. At this time there was no histologic evidence of necrosis, and serum malate dehydrogenase (MDH), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), and alanine aminotransferase (SGPT) were normal. During the next 12 hours ODC decreased by 60% to 70% and cellular necrosis became evident, and reached a peak at 24 to 36 hours, as did serum MDH, SDH, and SGPT. The serum enzymes fell precipitously at 48 hours, but the histologic evidence of necrosis subsided gradually over 60 hours. The secondary ODC peak, a fourfold increase, coincided with rising activity of TK, which increased 25- to 35-fold over 54 to 72 hours, and then subsided. At 54 hours, when DNA synthesis had already peaked, there was no histologic evidence of repair other than mitoses. However, within the next 6 hours, evidences of repair became prominent, and remained so for another 36 hours before subsiding. Thus, with acetaminophen injury, the initial phases in preparation for cell multiplication occurred before histologic evidence of injury was apparent, and DNA synthesis peaked before other evidence of tissue repair became evident.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)