In vitro bioassays were developed for the detection of chemicals that can be bioactivated to reactive free radical species in microsomal fractions. Two methods were deployed, a down-scaled spectrophotometric method for the detection of chemicals that can cause lipid peroxidation using the measurement of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and a fluorometric method for the detection of chemicals that can undergo redox cycling to generate superoxide radicals based on the detection of hydrogen peroxide. The response of these systems to prototypical and environmentally relevant chemicals, including tetrachloromethane and paraquat, was examined. The detection limit of the lipid peroxidation bioassay, based on the formation of TBARS, was about 1 muM for tetrachloromethane; that of the bioassay for redox cylers, based on the production of hydrogen peroxide, was about 2 muM for paraquat and about 100-fold lower for the potent redox cycler 2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzoquinone (TMBQ). Several binary mixtures of chemicals were tested for potential nonadditive effects in both in vitro systems. Some antagonistic effects among halogenated methanes were observed in the lipid peroxidation assay. In the hydrogen peroxide production assay, greater than additive effects were seen between small concentrations of paraquat and TMBQ. A number of surface water concentrates from several locations in The Netherlands, with various levels of chemical contamination, exhibited a weak response in the hydrogen peroxide production assay. Acetone was found to interfere with the response of the bioassay to redox cyclers and, therefore, the water concentrates (originally in acetone) were transferred to ethanol prior to testing. A good correlation was observed between the response of the water concentrates in the hydrogen peroxide production assay and their acute toxicity in Daphnia magna. No correlation was observed between this bioassay response and toxicity in the MicrotoxTM assay using Photobacterium phosphoreum.