The granule proteases of human neutrophils are thought to be responsible for the connective tissue destruction associated with certain inflammatory diseases. Using a model system for the degradation of a macromolecular connective tissue substrate, purified neutrophil elastase and cathepsin G were both individually able to degrade cartilage matrix proteoglycan and this degradation was blocked by the appropriate specific inhibitors. Neutrophil granule lysate also produced cartilage matrix degradation but little inhibition of degradation occurred when either elastase or cathepsin G inhibitor was used alone. However, a combination of elastase and cathepsin G inhibitors each at 100 microM or each at 10 microM blocked cartilage matrix degradation by 89% +/- 1 and 65% +/- 9 (mean +/- SEM, n = 3), respectively. The magnitude of the cartilage degradation mediated by neutrophil lysate, and its sensitivity to specific inhibitors, was reproduced using purified elastase and cathepsin G at the concentrations at which they are present in neutrophil lysate. Human neutrophils stimulated with opsonized zymosan degraded cartilage matrix in a dose-dependent manner in the presence of serum antiproteases. Supernatants from stimulated neutrophils cultured in the presence of serum did not degrade cartilage matrix, indicating that neutrophil mediated degradation in the presence of serum was confined to the protected subjacent region between the inflammatory cell and the substratum. A combination of elastase and cathepsin G inhibitors each at 500 microM or each at 100 microM blocked subjacent cartilage matrix degradation by stimulated human neutrophils by 91% +/- 3 and 54% +/- 8 (mean +/- SEM, n = 5), respectively, whereas either the elastase or cathepsin G inhibitor alone was much less effective. These studies demonstrate that neutrophil-mediated cartilage matrix degradation is produced primarily by elastase and cathepsin G. Furthermore, these results support the hypothesis that inflammatory neutrophils form zones of close contact with substratum that exclude serum antiproteases and that this subjacent degradation of cartilage matrix by stimulated neutrophils can be blocked by a combination of synthetic elastase and cathepsin G inhibitors.