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In order to determine if pharmacological intervention would modify the morphological alterations that we previously observed in the human liver in a rat hypovolemic shock model, male Sprague-Dawley rats were bled to a mean arterial pressure of 40 torr for 30 minutes. Following the shock period, animals were injected with either dopamine-HCl (30 micrograms/kg/min), glucagon (50 micrograms/kg/min) or methylprednisolone sodium succinate (30 mg/kg/min) over a 30-minute period. Following treatment, the shed blood was returned. Animals were killed at either 1 or 48 hours, a wedge biopsy of the liver was taken for morphological study, and a blood sample was taken for the determination of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT). Alterations in the untreated shock controls were consistent with those seen in the human liver by ultrastructural study in cases of mild to moderate shock. The most prominent alteration in the rat liver was the formation of autophagic vacuoles at 1 hour, while at 48 hours there was an increase in residual bodies with a decrease in autophagic vacuoles in both glucagon treated and in untreated controls. While dopamine and methylprednisolone significantly reduced the number of autophagic vacuoles and residual bodies in the animals studied, SGOT levels were increased in the glucagon and methylprednisolone treated animals at 48 hours and SGPT levels were increased only in the glucagon-treated animals at the same time period. Results suggest that methylprednisolone or dopamine prevent sublethal alterations in the rat liver in moderate hypovolemic shock.