In the animal model of tyrosinemia II only corneas from tyrosine(tyr)-fed rats produce chemoattractants in organ culture. To study the role of neutrophils (PMNs) in production of these chemoattractants, leukocytes (WBCs) were depleted using i.p. cyclophosphamide (CP). Saline (SAL)-treated rats maintained 18,375 +/- 894 WBC/mm3 (mean +/- SEM) with 4168 +/- 424 PMNs. Rats receiving CP (150 mg/kg day 0, 75 mg/kg day 4) has 1565 +/- 170 WBC (565 +/- 129 PMN) on day 3, and 398 +/- 68 WBC (19 +/- 5 PMN) on day 8. Rats ate a low-protein +/- 5% tyr diet on days 4-8. Only SAL-treated tyr-fed rats developed plaque-like gray epithelial lesions; histopathology showed corneal epithelial necrosis, stromal edema, and epithelial and stromal PMN infiltration. Control and CP-treated tyr-fed rat corneas showed no inflammation. On day 8 corneas were cultured in RPMI 1640 + 5% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum. After 3 days, supernatants were assayed for chemotactic activity (leading front method); data were expressed as the percentage of peritoneal PMN migration relative to 5% zymosan-activated rat serum. The mean total migration toward 75% supernatant from SAL-treated, tyr-fed rat corneas was 79%, whereas migration toward corneal supernatants from controls and CP-treated tyr-fed rats ranged from 42-48%. Corneal extracts were assayed for proteolytic activity. WBC depletion prevented the increase in cathepsin B- and D-like activities present in tyr-fed corneas, suggesting that PMNs were a major source of these enzymes. The data suggest that WBC depletion reduces both corneal inflammation in vivo and the production of chemotactic activity by tyr-fed corneas in culture.