The nucleoside analog zidovudine (3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, AZT), by itself or in combination with other anti- retroviral drugs, is used perinatally to prevent mother to child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. AZT is mutagenic in vitro and mutagenic and carcinogenic when administered to neonatal mice. A previous study indicated that the anti-retroviral agent didanosine (2',3'-dideoxyinosine, ddI) potentiated the mutagenicity of AZT in the thymidine kinase (TK) gene of cultured human TK6 lymphoblastoid cells. We have evaluated whether or not ddI affects the in vivo genotoxicity of AZT by breeding C57Bl/6N/Tk+/- female mice with C3H/HeNMTV male mice and treating the offspring daily on postnatal days 1-8 with 200 mg/kg ddI alone or in combination with 200 mg/kg AZT. One day after the last dose, bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs) were obtained to assess the induction of micronuclei; 3 weeks following treatment, the induction of mutants was determined in the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) and Tk genes of splenic T lymphocytes from B6C3F1/Tk+/- mice. The mixture of AZT and ddI, but not ddI alone, caused a significant increase in micronucleated PCEs. When assessed 3 weeks after dosing, ddI did not induce mutations in the Hprt or Tk genes. The mixture of AZT and ddI also did not induce mutations in the Hprt gene, but did induce a significant increase in Tk mutants, similar to that observed previously with AZT alone. The induction of mutations in the Tk gene by the mixture of AZT and ddI was associated with loss of the wild-type Tk+ allele. These data indicate that, under the conditions of this experiment, ddI is not mutagenic in neonatal B6C3F1/Tk+/- mice and that it does not potentiate the mutagenicity of AZT.