Treatment of low-metastatic Lewis lung carcinoma cells (P-29) with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in vitro enhanced their lung-colonizing ability. The effects of other highly polar compounds on the lung-colonizing ability of P-29 cells were examined. The following compounds were found to enhance the lung-colonizing ability of the cells: acetamide, N-methylacetamide, N-methylformamide, N,N-dimethylformamide, piperidone and hexamethylphosphoric triamide. Treatment of P-29 cells with DMSO or other polar compounds resulted in increases in activities of degradative enzymes, such as cathepsin B and plasminogen activator. The increases in cathepsin B and plasminogen activator activities were apparent after a 24 h treatment with DMSO and were suppressed by simultaneous treatment with cycloheximide, which suggested that they were due to syntheses of new proteins. DMSO-treated P-29 cells degraded [3H]leucine-labelled subendothelial matrix much more than did untreated cells. P-29 cells treated with DMSO or other polar compounds became attached to culture dishes more rapidly and were more resistant to detachment by trypsin treatment than untreated cells. A significant correlation was found between the degrees of adhesiveness of P-29 cells treated with various polar compounds and their lung-colonizing abilities.