Objective To investigate the effect of succinylcholine on the dose-response relationship of subsequently administered rocuronium in healthy patients. Methods Forty-eight ASA physical status Ⅰ-Ⅱ patients,aged 17 -65 years, scheduled for elective general surgery, were randomly assigned to either the rocuronium treatment group (R) or succinylcholine-rocuronium treatment group (SR). General anesthesia was induced with thiopental 4 to 6mg/kg and fentanyl 2 to 5μg/kg intravenously and maintained with 60% nitrous oxide in oxygen. Additional doses of thiopental or fentanyl were administered as required. The dose-response relationship of rocuronium was determined by the single dose-response technique. In R group ( n =24) , rocuronium was given after induction of anesthesia. In SR group (n =24 ) , patients were intubated after 1.5mg/kg of succinylcholine and rocuronium was given after the complete recovery of neuromuscular blockade from succinylcholine. Patients were further randomly divided into 4 subgroups receiving 150, 200, 250 or 300μg/kg of rocuronium respectively in both groups. Neuromuscular function was assessed accelographically with train-of-four (TOF) stimulation at the wrist every 12s (using the TOF Guard(R) accelerometer). The relationship between probit-tranformed percentage depression of first twitch height (Th) of train-of-four stimulation and logarithm dose of rocuronium was analyzed using linear regression.Results The dose-response curve of rocuronium after succinylcholine was shifted to the left in a parallel fashion compared with that of rocuronium given alone. ED50 and ED95 of rocuronium were 193 ±69 and 367 ± 73μg/kg respectively in R group, and 158 ± 35 and 317 ± 80μg/kg respectively in SR group ( P ＜ 0. 05 ). Conclusion Succinylcholine shifts the dose-response curve of rocuronium to the left and potentiates the effects of the neuromuscular blockade by about 15% of subsequently administered rocuronium. Lower doses of rocuronium are required after prior succinylcholine.