The semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) from bovine lung microsomes was activated in a temperature- and time-dependent process. This behaviour was observed when the enzyme was preincubated at 25 degrees C, 37 degrees C and 50 degrees C but not at 4 degrees C. This activation was only observed when benzylamine was used as substrate but not when methylamine, histamine or 2-phenylethylamine were used. The activation was independent of pH, ionic strength and the nature of the buffer used. At 37 degrees C the specific activity had risen to a value that was about 7 times higher than that of the starting material after 120 min. This process affected only the maximum velocity of the reaction with the Km value remaining essentially unchanged. Treatment of SSAO with phospholipases and detergents did not affect this behaviour. Incubation of the enzyme with serine proteases, metal chelating agents, reducing agents or protease inhibitors, had no effect on the activation. The fact that both forms of the enzyme (activated and non-activated), showed the same Mr values on gel filtration chromatography excluded the possibility of an enzyme aggregation and/or degradation being involved in this process.