The ESR spin-trapping technique has been used to investigate free radical generation in copper-challenged rats deficient in vitamin E and/or selenium. Radical adduct excreted in the bile was detected only from copper-challenged rats deficient in both vitamin E and selenium. The phenyl-N-t-butylnitrone radical adduct has hyperfine coupling constants of aN = 15.36 G and a beta H = 2.50 G and arises from the trapping of a radical formed from an endogenous molecular species. The induction of this radical species in vivo may be important in the increased toxicity of copper in rats deficient in both vitamin E and selenium. These findings support the proposal that dietary selenium and vitamin E can protect against lipid peroxidation and copper toxicity. The results obtained suggest that the presence of only one of these nutrients in the diet is enough to prevent the formation of this radical adduct at ESR-detectable levels, and they provide the most direct ESR evidence yet obtained for the involvement of in vivo lipid peroxidation in the toxicity of copper.