Previous studies have shown that glucocorticoid suppresses microsomal epoxide hydrolase(EH) gene expression and that EH expression is altered during pregnancy. The effects of progesterone on the expression of rat EH and certain glutathione S-transferase(GST) genes were examined in this study. Northern RNA blot analysis revealed that progesterone was effective in increasing hepatic EH mRNA levels at 12 h to 48 h after treatment with a maximal 9-fold increase being noted at 12 h time point. Nonetheless, multiple daily treatment with progesterone rather caused minimal relative increases in EH mRNA levels. GST Ya and Yb1/2 mRNA levels were also transiently elevated at 12 h after progesterone treatment, followed by gradual decreases from the maximal Increases at day 1, 2 and 5 post-treatment. These changes in EH and GST mRNA levels were noted only at a relatively high dose of progesterone. Furthermore, immunoblot analyses showed that rats treated with progesterone for 5 days failed to show EH or GST induction, indicating that progesterone-induced alterations in EH and GST mRNA levels do not reflect bona fide induction of the detoxifying enzymes. Concomitant progesterone treatment of rats with the known EH inducers including ketoconazole and clotrimazole failed to additively nor antagonistically alter EH mRNA levels. In contrast, dexamethasone substantially reduced ketoconazole- or clotrimazole-inducible EH expression. These results showed that progesterone stimulates the EH, GST Ya and Yb1/2 gene expression at early times followed by marked reduction in the RNA levels from the maximum after multiple treatment and that the changes in mRNA do not necessarily reflect induction of the proteins.