The bolus i.v. infusion of cobra venom factor into rats results in acute lung injury that is neutrophil-dependent, oxygen radical-mediated, and requires CD18. In our studies a more precise definition regarding the role of beta-integrins and requirements for cytokines was obtained by the use of blocking antibodies. Lung injury was quantitated by changes in permeability (leakage of 125I-BSA) and hemorrhage (extravasation of 51Cr-RBC). In animals treated with anti-CD11a, the permeability and hemorrhage parameters were reduced by 30 and 29%, respectively. Treatment with anti-CD11b resulted in reductions in permeability and hemorrhage by 53 and 48%, respectively, whereas anti-intercellular adhesion molecule-1 reduced the parameters of injury by 60 and 75%, respectively. Not surprisingly, treatment with antibodies to very late Ag-4, TNF-alpha and IL-1 failed to show any protective effects, which contrasts to the requirements for these molecules in lung injury after deposition of IgG immune complexes. Protective interventions were associated with a reduction in lung content of myeloperoxidase. These studies indicate that, in the cobra venom factor model of acute lung injury in rats, engagement of Mac-1, lymphocyte function-associated Ag-1, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 are essential, whereas, in contrast to other models of neutrophil mediated lung injury, cytokines (TNF-alpha and IL-1) and very late Ag-4 are not required for the full development of injury.