The capacities of citrus fruits to inhibit midazolam 1'-hydroxylase activity of cytochrome P450 3A (CYP3A) expressed in human liver microsomes were evaluated. Eight citrus fruits such as ama-natsu, banpeiyu, Dekopon, hassaku, hyuga-natsu, completely matured kinkan (Tamatama), takaoka-buntan and unshu-mikan were tested. We also examined the inhibition of CYP3A activity by grapefruit (white) and grapefruit juice (white, Tropicana-Kirin). The addition of a fruit juice prepared from banpeiyu, hassaku, takaoka-buntan or Tamatama caused the inhibition of the microsomal CYP3A activity. The inhibition depended on the amount of a fruit juice added to the incubation mixture (2.5 and 5.0%, v/v). The fruit juice from banpeiyu showed the most potent inhibition of CYP3A. The addition of a banpeiyu juice (5.0%, v/v) resulted in the inhibition of midazolam 1'-hydroxylase activity to about 20% of control without a fruit juice. The elongation of the preincubation period of a fruit juice from banpeiyu (5.0%, v/v) with the microsomal fraction (5 to 15 min) led to the enhancement of the CYP3A inhibition (5% of control). Thus, we discovered ingredients of banpeiyu to be inhibitor(s) or mechanism-based inhibitor(s) of human CYP3A activity, but the inhibitory effects of them were somewhat lower than those of grapefruit.