This study was undertaken to determine the underlying mechanisms of reactive oxygen species-induced cell injury in renal epithelial cells and whether there is a difference in the role of lipid peroxidation between freshly isolated renal cells and cultured renal cells. Rabbit renal cortical slices were used as a model of freshly isolated cells and opossum kidney (OK) cells as a model of cultured cells. Cell injury was estimated by measuring lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in renal cortical slices and frypan blue exclusion in OK cells. $H_2O$$_2$ was used as a drug model of reactive oxygen species. $H_2O$$_2$ induced cell injury in a dose-dependent manner in both cell types. However, renal cortical slices were resistant to $H_2O$$_2$ approximately 50-fold than OK cells. $H_2O$$_2$-induced cell injury was prevented by thiols (glutathione and dithiothreitol) and iron chelators (deferoxamine and phenanthroline) in both cell types. $H_2O$$_2$-induced cell injury in renal cortical slices was completely prevented by antioxidants N,N-diphenyl-p -phenylenediamine and Trolox, but the cell injury was not affected by these antioxidants in OK cells. $H_2O$$_2$ increased lipid peroxidation in both cell types, which was completely inhibited by the antioxidants. These results suggest that $H_2O$$_2$ induces cell injury through a lipid peroxidation-dependent mechanism in freshly isolated renal cells, but via a mechanism independent of lipid peronidation in cultured cells.