Insulin stimulation of hydrogen peroxide production by rat epididymal fat cells was investigated by studying the oxidation of formate to CO2 by endogenous catalase. Under optimal concentrations of formate (0.1 to 1 mM) and glucose (0.275 mM), insulin stimulated formate oxidation 1.5- to 2.0-fold. Inhibitors of catalase activity, including nitrite and azide, inhibited both basal and insulin-stimulated formate oxidation at concentrations that did not interfere with insulin effects on glucose C-1 oxidation or glucose H-3 incorporation into lipids. The addition of exogenous catalase increased formate oxidation only slightly, while exogenous H2O2 (0.5 mM) stimulated formate oxidation by endogenous catalase strongly. These data indicate that the insulin-stimulated H2O2 production was intracellular. Insulin dose-response curves for formate oxidation were identical with those for glucose H-3 incorporation into lipids. The dependence of relative insulin effects on the logarithm of the glucose concentration was bell-shaped for formate oxidation and correlated highly with the coresponding dependences of glucose C-1 oxidation and glucose H-3 incorporation into lipids. This suggests that insulin stimulation of intracellular H2O2 production is linked to glucose metabolism. Since it is known that extracellular H2O2 can mimic insulin in several respects, these observations suggest that H2O2 may act as a "second messenger" for the observed effects of insulin.