Human blood neutrophils stimulated by a variety of agents were shown to have cytotoxic effects on bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Effective agonists included immune complexes, opsonized zymosan and 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate. Unstimulated human neutrophils and neutrophils stimulated with N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine or with platelet-activating factor failed to induce significant killing even though secretory release of lysosomal enzymes occurred. In comparing the effects of the different agonists, endothelial cell killing showed a better correlation with the production of H2O2 than with the generation of O2-. Endothelial cell killing by stimulated human neutrophils was inhibited by catalase but not by soybean trypsin inhibitor or superoxide dismutase. Killing was also inhibited by two scavengers (N, N-dimethylthiourea and D-mannitol) of hydroxyl radical and by deferoxamine mesylate, an iron-chelator. Iron-saturated deferoxamine mesylate was significantly less effective in protecting the endothelial cells against killing. Agents that were protective against endothelial cell killing did not interfere with the generation of O2- in stimulated neutrophils. These results suggest that leukocyte-induced endothelial cell killing in vitro can be induced by some but not all agonists for neutrophils and that the killing is oxygen-dependent and may be directly due to hydroxyl radical production.