We characterized the inducing effects of two musk analogues, musk xylene and musk ambrette, on phase I and phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes in rat liver and compared their effects with 3-methylcholanthrene, isosafrole and 2(3)-tertbutylhydroxyanisole (BHA) at 0.1 mmol/kg dose level. Musk xylene and isosafrole increased more efficiently the metabolic activation of 2-amino-6-methyldipyrido[1,2-a:3',2'-d]imidazole (Glu-P-1) to mutagen than that of benzo(a)pyrene. Musk ambrette increased both the activation of Glu-P-1 and benzo(a)pyrene to the same extent. Western blot analyses revealed that musk xylene, musk ambrette, isosafrole and BHA induced more strongly cytochrome P450 1A2 (CYP1A2) in microsomes than CYP1A1. 3-Methylcholanthrene induced CYP1A1 in preference to CYP1A2. On the other hand, all drugs except for 3-methylcholanthrene did not show remarkable increases in phase II enzyme activities, such as DT-diaphorase, glutathione S-transferase and UDP-glucuronyltransferase, at 0.1 mmol/kg dose level. These results show that musk xylene, musk ambrette, isosafrole and BHA at the dose level used in this study possess the potency to induce CYP1A2 without remarkable induction of CYP1A1 and phase II enzyme activities as observed for 3-methylcholanthrene, although they have been considered to induce both phase I and phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes at higher doses.