Maleic anhydride-divinyl ether copolymer (pyran) and the polyribonucleotides are both large polyanions with potent antiviral activity. However, they are biologically quite different. Interferon levels of 100 units or more/ml were associated with antiviral activity of polyribonucleotides. Interferon induction by pyran compounds was not primarily involved in antiviral resistance because preparations that did not induce interferon possessed antiviral activity equal to that of interferoninducing preparations. Both polyriboinosinic-cytidylic acid [poly (rI.rC)] and pyran increased the immune response to sheep erythrocytes in the Jerne hemolytic plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay, but their modes of immunoadjuvant action differed. On peak day, poly (rI.rC)-treated mice demonstrated 5.1 x 10(4) PFC/spleen (557 PFC/10(6) nucleated cells) and pyran-treated mice exhibited 4.5 x 10(4) PFC/spleen (299 PFC/10(6) nucleated cells), as compared with 2.7 x 10(4) PFC/spleen (261 PFC/10(6) nucleated cells) in controls. The compounds also differed in phagocytic alteration; polyribonucleotides did not affect phagocytosis whereas pyran produced a biphasic response. Both polyanions exhibited toxic inhibition of liver microsomal enzyme metabolism of type I and type II drugs. However, whereas pyran sensitized mice 50-fold to the lethal effects of endotoxin, the polyribonucleotides did not significantly sensitize mice to endotoxin.