To prevent oxidative tissue damage induced by strenuous exercise in the liver and kidney superoxide dismutase derivative (SM-SOD), which circulated bound to albumin with a half-life of 6 h, was injected intraperitoneally into rats. Exhausting treadmill running caused a significant increase in the activities of xanthine oxidase (XO), and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) in addition to concentrations of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in hepatic tissue immediately after running. There was a definite increase in the immunoreactive content of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) 1 day after the running. Meanwhile, the TBARS concentration in the kidney was markedly elevated 3 days after running. The activities of GPX, and catalase in the kidney increased significantly immediately and on days 1 and 3 following the test. The immunoreactive content of Mn-SOD also increased 1 day after running. The exercise induced no significant changes in immunoreactive Cu, Zn-SOD content in either tissue. The administration of SM-SOD provided effective protection against lipid peroxidation, and significantly attenuated the alterations in XO and all the anti-oxidant enzymes, measured. In summary, the present data would suggest that exhausting exercise may induce XO-derived oxidative damage in the liver, while the increase in lipid peroxidation in the kidney might be the result of washout-dependent accumulation of peroxidised metabolites. We found that the administration of SM-SOD provided excellent protection against exercise-induced oxidative stress in both liver and kidney.