Horse eosinophils stimulated with the calcium ionophore A23187 were examined by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Secretion was characterized by granule movement to the cell periphery and fusion of adjacent granules. The granules became swollen and less electron-dense as their contents were released into large intracellular vacuoles, which opened to the outside of the cell through surface pores. A23187-induced eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) release, as measured by guaiacol oxidation, was blocked by eicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraynoic acid (ETYA) (which inhibits both the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism) but not by indomethacin (which inhibits only the cyclooxygenase pathway). Highly purified porcine phospholipase A2 induced noncytotoxic eosinophil degranulation (as measured by the release of EPO without the concomitant release of the cytoplasmic marker lactate dehydrogenase), which was blocked by pretreatment of the enzyme with the phospholipase A2 inhibitor 4-bromophenacyl bromide. These results suggest that calcium-dependent activation of phospholipase A2 and generation of lipoxygenase products of arachidonic acid metabolism are important in the initiation of eosinophil degranulation.