In vivo experiments using 203Pb and radioactively labelled precursors such as [14C] arginine and [3H] tryptophan were performed to identify lead binding components in rat liver. The distribution of lead in 9 tissues and the intracellular distribution in liver and kidney was also investigated. Male rats were injected intravenously with 18 mug of 203Pb/rat and the 203Pb radioactivity was measured in whole tissues as well as in nuclei, mitochondria, lysosomes, microsomes and soluble fractions obtained by centrifugation of liver and kidney homogenates. The subcellular fractions from liver were purified and fractionated into macromolecular components by ultracentrifugation, gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography and solvent extraction. Nuclei were fractionated into membranes, chromatin proteins (histone and residual non-histone proteins) and DNA. Most of the lead was detected in the nuclear membrane fraction bound exclusively to membrane proteins and absent in phospholipids. The intranuclear lead was associated with histone fractions and other basic or very weakly acid proteins as indicated by the incorporation of [14C] arginine and [3H] tryptophan. Lead was present in the chromatographically purified DNA fraction but whether lead was really bound to the nucleic acid was not determined. Mitochondria were fractionated into heavy, soluble and light subfractions representing the inner membranes, the intramitochondrial matrix and the outer membranes respectively. These subfractions contained appreciable quantities of lead. No appreciable lead was present in lipids of the mitochondrial membranes. Significant quantities of lead were associated with the endoplasmic reticulum. Fractionation of microsomes into rough and smooth membranes showed that lead was almost exclusively bound to membranes of rough-surfaced microsomes associated with the heavy rough membrane subfraction. No significant lead was present in the free polysome subfraction or in lipids from the endoplasmic reticulum. More than one lead binding site was identified in the soluble fraction, the high molecular weight components representing the most important lead binding site.