Deoxyadenosine but not adenosine reversed the antiviral activity of 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyladenine (ara-A) and 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosylhypoxanthine (ara-H) when used in the presence of coformycin, an inhibitor of adenosine deaminase. In suspension cultures of KB cells, 10 muM ara-A inhibited the replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 by 80%. Concomitant addition of 50 muM deoxyadenosine reduced the antiviral activity of 10 muM ara-A to only 40% inhibition. Adenosine failed to antagonize the antiviral activity. In monolayer cultures of KB cells, the 50% inhibitory concentration of ara-A was increased from 1.5 to 2.9 muM by 2 muM deoxyadenosine and to 8.5 muM by 10 muM deoxyadenosine. Analysis of the dose-response data by a double reciprocal plot method indicated that the antagonism was competitive. The antiviral activity of ara-H also was antagonized by deoxyadenosine. The 50% inhibitory concentration of ara-H was increased from 42 muM to 70, 91, or 121 muM by the concurrent addition of 5, 10, or 20 muM deoxyadenosine. Competitive antagonism could not be demonstrated. In the absence of the adenosine deaminase inhibitor, neither ara-A nor ara-H was antagonized by deoxyadenosine. Since such inhibitors were not available unitl recently, previous investigators were unable to observe the antagonistic capacity of deoxyadenosine.