A pseudomembranous structure that has the histological characteristics of a foreign-body-like reaction invariably develops at the bone-cement interface in the proximity of resorption of bone around aseptically loosened cemented prostheses. This study was an attempt to implicate polymethylmethacrylate in this resorptive process. Unfractionated peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (consisting of lymphocytes and monocytes) and surface-adherent cells (monocyte-enriched) were prepared from control subjects who did and did not have clinical evidence of osteoarthrosis and from patients who had osteoarthrosis and were having a revision for failure of a cemented hip or knee implant. Cells were cultured for varying periods in the presence and absence of nonpolymerized methacrylate (one to two-micrometer spherules), pulverized polymerized material, or culture chambers that were pre-coated with polymerized cement. Conditioned media that were derived from both methacrylate-stimulated cell populations were shown to contain specific bone-resorbing mediators (interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, or prostaglandin E2) and to directly affect bone resorption in 45Ca-labeled murine limb-bone assays.