The pharmacokinetics of glycyrrhizin (G) in eight patients with chronic hepatitis receiving chronically i.v. administration of 120 mg dose of G was investigated. The plasma concentration of G in the patients after dosing declined in a monophasic manner. However, the pharmacokinetic profiles varied among patients. The mean elimination half-life (t1/2) and the total body clearance (CLtot) were 6.0 h (range 4.3-10.7 h) and 7.9 ml h-1 kg-1 (4.5-12.7 ml h-1 kg-1), respectively. The variation of the CLtot for G was closely related to that of aspartate aminotransferase (r = -0.739, p < 0.05) and alanine aminotransferase (r = -0.783, p < 0.05) activities in the plasma.