Deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine are toxic to human lymphoid cells in culture and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the immunodeficiency states associated with adenosine deaminase and purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency, respectively. We have studied the relative incorporation of several labeled nucleosides into DNA and into nucleotide pools to further elucidate the mechanism of deoxyribonucleoside toxicity. In the presence of an inhibitor of adenosine deaminase [erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)adenine [EHNA], 5 muM], deoxyadenosine (1-50 muM) progressively decreased the incorporation of thymidine, uridine, and deoxyuridine into DNA, but did not affect uridine incorporation into RNA. This decrease in DNA synthesis was associated with increasing dATP and decreasing dCTP pools. Likewise, incubation of cells with deoxyguanosine caused an elevation of dGTP, depletion of dCTP, and inhibition of DNA synthesis. To test the hypothesis that dATP and dGTP accumulation inhibit DNA synthesis by inhibiting the enzyme ribonucleotide reductase, simultaneous rates of incorporation of [(3)H]uridine and [(14)C]thymidine into DNA were measured in the presence of deoxyadenosine plus EHNA or deoxyguanosine, and in the presence of hydroxyurea, a known inhibitor of ribonucleotide reductase. Hydroxyurea (100 muM) and deoxyguanosine (10 muM) decreased the incorporation of [(3)H]uridine but not of [(14)C]thymidine into DNA; both compounds also substantially increased [(3)H]cytidine incorporation into the ribonucleotide pool while reducing incorporation into the deoxyribonucleotide pool. In contrast, deoxyadenosine plus EHNA did not show this differential inhibition of [(3)H]uridine incorporation into DNA, and the alteration in [(3)H]cytidine incorporation into nucleotide pools was less impressive. These data show an association between accumulation of dATP or dGTP and a primary inhibition of DNA synthesis, and they provide support for ribonucleotide reductase inhibition as the mechanism responsible for deoxyguanosine toxicity. Deoxyadenosine toxicity, however, appears to result from another, or perhaps a combination of, molecular event(s).