3'-Deoxythymidin-2'-ene (d4T) is a potent and selective inhibitor of human immunodeficiency virus replication in a variety of human cell types and is currently undergoing phase I clinical trials for the treatment of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. As part of our ongoing studies of the cellular pharmacology of d4T, and in light of recent reports in which such nucleoside analogs as 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT) and 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine were shown to permeate cells by the unusual mechanism of nonfacilitated diffusion, we have investigated the uptake of d4T in the human lymphocyte cell line H9. Several lines of evidence suggest that d4T permeation of H9 cells occurs by nonfacilitated diffusion; 1) [3H]d4T influx was linear for the first 10 sec and was nonconcentrative, reaching equilibrium with the extracellular drug concentration in 2-3 min, 2) the initial rates of influx were a linear function of concentration over the range from 1 microM to 5 mM, with no sign of uptake by a saturable mechanism, and 3) the uptake of [3H]d4T was insensitive to the nucleoside transport inhibitors nitrobenzylthioinosine and dipyridamole, as well as a large molar excess of AZT, thymidine, or adenosine. The octanol/water partition coefficient of d4T was 0.179, intermediate between those of thymidine and AZT. Thus, d4T does not appear to be a substrate for the nucleoside transport system responsible for the uptake of physiological nucleosides as well as most nucleoside analogs, and it enters the cell by nonfacilitated diffusion.