Natural killer cells/large granular lymphocytes (NK/LGL) separated on discontinuous Percoll gradient from rat spleen cells were injected iv to rats (7 x 10(7) cells/rat) 3 days following iv inoculation of 2 x 10(6) Walker-256 cells. Two and 4 hr after NK/LCL injection, animals were sacrificed and the lungs examined by light and immunoelectron microscopy. The latter was done using colloidal gold-labelled polyclonal antibody against purified rat LGL cytoplasmic granules. At 2 hr following iv NK/LGL, in addition to the scattered individual tumor cells and minute tumor foci, many lymphocytes were seen accumulating in the small pulmonary vessels and capillaries. This was not observed in tumor-inoculated control rats. At 4 hr, many extravasated lymphocytes reached the lung parenchyma, some of which had attached to the tumor cells. Immunoelectromicroscopically, lymphocytes were found in intimate contact with the tumor cells with the cytoplasmic gold particles clustering at the cell contact site. Gold particles could also be seen closely adherent to the plasma membrane of degenerating tumor cells. This is the first in vivo demonstration of the role of cytotoxic granules of NK cells in tumor cell lysis.