Destruction of intracellularly living Leishmania major amastigotes is achieved by activated macrophages. In this report, we have investigated the contribution of IL-4, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma to the induction of antileishmanial macrophage activation. It was found that as single lymphokine only IFN-gamma led to amastigote elimination by peritoneal exudate macrophages. Neither IL-4 nor TNF-alpha or the combination of both cytokines led to antimicrobial activation. When the macrophages were incubated with concentrations of IFN-gamma that by themselves were insufficient for maximum cell activation, it was found that both IL-4 and TNF-alpha very effectively synergized with IFN-gamma for induction of antiparasitic activity. The activation which was achieved when IFN-gamma was combined with IL-4 could be blocked not only with antibodies to either of the lymphokines, but also with an antiserum specific for TNF-alpha, suggesting the involvement of endogenously generated TNF-alpha in this synergism. Any of the synergistic activities observed presumably lead to the activation of the L-arginine dependent pathway used by the cell for the production of nitrogen oxides as effector molecules for parasite killing since NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA), a specific inhibitor of this pathway, completely blocked the killing of intracellular parasites. We conclude that macrophage activation for antiparasitic activity is directed by a complex network of cytokine-interactions, in which IL-4 and TNF-alpha very effectively synergize positively with low levels of IFN-gamma.