Deoxyadenosine metabolism and toxicity in cultured L5178Y cells.

The growth of cultured L5178Y cells is inhibited by relatively low concentrations fo deoxyadenosine in the presence of deoxycoformycin, an inhibitor of adenosine deaminase. Cell viability is reduced, presumably as a consequence of the induced state of unbalanced growth which is characterized by inhibition in DNA synthesis, accumulation of cells in G1 or early S phase, a continuation in RNA synthesis, and increasing cell volume. The intracellular concentrations of purine and pyrimidine ribonucleoside phosphates remain essentially unchanged. The significant changes in the intracellular deoxynucleoside triphosphate pools are an increase in deoxyadenosine triphosphate and a decrease in deoxycytidine triphosphate.