In addition to the extracellular production of O 2؊ by NADPH oxidase in neutrophils stimulated by soluble stimuli, the intracellular formation of oxygen reactive species has been described. Cytochrome b 559 , the redox component of the NADPH oxidase complex, is mainly associated with specific granule membrane in resting neutrophils. We examined whether these granules could be a site for intracellular production of O 2 ؊ . Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-stimulated neutrophils were fractionated by differential centrifugation, and generation of O 2 ؊ was detected in both the granule and the plasma membrane-enriched fractions, but more in the granules. Translocation of p47 phox and p67 phox , two cytosolic components of the NADPH oxidase, was also quantitatively more important in the granules than in the plasma membrane fraction. After separation of the specific from the azurophil granules, p47 phox and p67 phox were found to be present only in the specific granules of PMA-activated cells. As a control, the production of O 2 ؊ was studied in retinoic aciddifferentiated NB4 cells that lack specific granules. During stimulation of NB4 cells with PMA, only the plasma membrane-enriched fraction was the site of O 2 ؊ production. Together, these results indicate that NADPH oxidase can be functionally assembled in specific granules. J. Leukoc. Biol. 65: 629-634; 1999.