The activation and accumulation of leukocytes during inflammatory processes such as that initiated by myocardial ischemia and reflow appear to be major determinants of irreversible tissue injury. Myocardial salvage by dual cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase inhibitors and selective 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors has suggested a role for lipoxygenase (LOX) products, such as the potent chemotactic factor leukotriene B4, in ischemia-reflow injury. However, many LOX inhibitors are antioxidants and several have been shown to directly inhibit neutrophil function in vitro, thereby questioning the role of LOX products in reperfusion injury. To clarify further the protective mechanism of lipoxygenase inhibitors, we have examined the effects of two nonantioxidant inhibitors, SK&F 86002 and REV-5901, on human neutrophil activation and function in vitro. The antioxidant LOX inhibitor nordihydroguiaretic acid, which served as a positive control, exhibited a concentration-dependent inhibition of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) and recombinant C5a-induced neutrophil bipolarization, fMLP-induced upregulation of the adherence glycoprotein Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18), fMLP-induced aggregation and neutrophil adherence to and migration through interleukin-1-stimulated human endothelial monolayers. In contrast, neither SK&F 86002 nor REV-5901 (in concentrations up to 50 microM) had any effect on these functions, nor did they inhibit neutrophil oxidative metabolism (phorbol myristate acetate-induced chemiluminescence). Inasmuch as both of these agents have been observed to reduce myocardial ischemia-reflow injury in vivo, their failure to directly inhibit neutrophil function further supports an important role for chemotactic LOX products in the pathogenesis of reperfusion injury.