Relatively little is known about the direct influence of acid rain (AR) on pro-and antioxidative changes in plant cells. Intercompartmental differences between cytosol and mitochondria were not studied before. Aboveground parts of plants treated with different pH variants of AR and prooxidative changes (lipid peroxidation) as well as antioxidative enzyme activities (ascorbate peroxidase, APx; glutathione peroxidase, GSH-Px) in the cytosolic and mitochondrial fractions were examined. The character of changes in antioxidative enzyme activities and of prooxidative alterations was closely connected with the cell com partment as well as with pH and time after treatment. The activity of both APx and GSH-Px increased more intensively in cytosol. Contrastingly, strong induction of lipid peroxides formation was observed in the mitochondrial fraction. The results suggest that cucumber mitochondria are more susceptible to oxidative damage caused by AR than cytosol. Antioxidative defense of cytosol appeared to provide sufficient protection against the oxidative stress imposed by AR.