The effect of six compounds isolated from rhizome of Anemone raddeana on the superoxide generation in human neutrophils was investigated. The six compounds examined were 3-acetyloleanolic acid (AOA), oleanolic acid (OA), eleutheroside K (EK), oleanolic acid-3-O-alpha -L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1 --> 2)-[beta -D-glucopyranosyl-(1 --> 4)]-alpha -L-arabinopyranoside (Rd10), raddeanoside 12 (Rd12) and raddeanoside 13 (Rd13). AOA, OA, Rd12 and Rd13 suppressed the superoxide generation induced by N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) in a concentration-dependent manner. EK and Rd10 significantly enhanced the fMLP-induced superoxide generation in a specific narrow range of low concentration (0.5-0.75 muM), while these compounds more efficiently suppressed the superoxide generation than the other four compounds in other concentrations. In the case of superoxide generation induced by phorbol la-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), Rd12, OA, EM and Rd10 dose-dependently suppressed the superoxide generation but AOA and Rd13 gave no effect. Arachidonic acid-induced superoxide generation was suppressed by EK, Rd10, Rd12 and Rd13, but was weakly enhanced by AOA and OA. Rd12 dose-dependently inhibited fMLP-induced tyrosyl phosphorylation of 123.0, 79.4, 60.3, 56.2 and 50.1 kDa proteins in human neutrophil. On the other hand, RD10 and EK enhanced the tyrosyl phosphorylation of these proteins in a low concentration range. These phenomena were parallel to the suppression of the fMLP-induced superoxide generations.