The inhibition of monoamine oxidase (MAO) in rat liver and brain by the short-acting MAO-A inhibitors moclobemide (Ro 11-1163 = p-chloro-N-[2-morpholinoethyl]benzamide) and brofaremine and by the short-acting MAO-B inhibitors Ro 16-6491 (N-[2-aminoethyl]-p-chloro-benzamide) and almoxatone, administered p.o. at roughly equieffective doses 2 h before decapitation, was investigated for its reversibility under various in vitro conditions. MAO A activity in liver homogenates, inhibited by moclobemide (300 mumol/kg) to approx. 15% of control, time dependently recovered during 0.5 to 2 h of incubation at 37 degrees C, irrespective of whether the homogenates were prepared and incubated in distilled water or Krebs-Ringer buffer (KRB). Dialysis of such homogenates for 4 h in distilled water at 37 degrees C (but not at 13 degrees C) led to a complete return of the MAO activity. In liver homogenates from rats pretreated with brofaremine (30 mumol/kg), dialysis for 4 h at 37 degrees C against distilled water caused only little recovery of the MAO activity. Likewise, MAO-B inhibited by Ro 16-6491 (30 mumol/kg) to approx. 4% of control returned to almost control activity after 4 h of dialysis at 37 degrees C, while inhibition induced by almoxatone (30 mumol/kg) was little or not reversed at all. In brain homogenates prepared in, and dialysed against, distilled water or KRB at 37 degrees C (but not at 13 degrees C), MAO-A inhibited by moclobemide (100-300 mumol/kg) to approx. 15% of control, partially (KRB) or almost completely (dist. water) returned to control activity after 4 h of dialysis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)