The pharmacokinetics of 2',3'-dideoxyinosine (ddI) were examined in rats given intravenous doses of 8, 40, or 200 mg/kg. The concentrations of ddI in whole blood and plasma were identical. The concentration decline was multiexponential, with mean half-lives of 2 and 20 min for the first and second phases, respectively. At the highest dose, a slower third phase with a half-life of 56 min was observed. The total-body clearances were 99, 77, and 37 ml/min-kg for the 8, 40, and 200 mg/kg doses. The steady-state volume of distribution showed a trend for a decrease with increasing doses, but the difference was not statistically significant. Twenty-four-hour urinary recovery of unchanged drug for the three doses was similar at about 20%, suggesting that a major fraction of the dose was metabolized. Urinary excretion of ddI metabolite, hypoxanthine, accounted for less than 5% of the dose. Renal and metabolic clearances decreased with increased doses. ddI was metabolized in blood; the addition of inorganic phosphate, a cosubstrate in phosphorylase-mediated nucleoside catabolism, enhanced the degradation by about fourfold. In summary, these data indicate equal distribution of ddI in the extracellular and intracellular spaces in blood, its enzymatic degradation in blood, and nonlinear elimination kinetics.