The comparative effects of the tumor promoter anthralin and its analog, danthron, on semiconservative DNA replication and DNA repair synthesis were studied in cultured human cells. Bromodeoxyuridine was used as density label together with 3H-thymidine to distinguish replication from repair synthesis in isopycnic CsCl gradients. Anthralin at 1.1 microgram inhibited replication in T98G cells by 50%. In cells treated with 0.4 or 1.3 microM anthralin and additive effect was observed on the inhibition of replication by ultraviolet light (254 nm). In cells irradiated with 20 J/m2, 2.3 microM anthralin was required to inhibit repair synthesis by 50%. Thus there was no selective inhibitory effect of anthralin on repair synthesis. Danthron exhibited no detectable effect on either semiconservative replication or repair synthesis at concentrations below about 5.0 microM. Neither compound stimulated repair synthesis in the absence of ultraviolet irradiation. Thus, anthralin and danthron do not appear to react with DNA to form adducts that are subject to excision repair. Although both compounds appear to intercalate into supercoiled DNA in vitro to a limited extent, the degree of unwinding introduced by the respective drugs does not correlate with their relative effects on DNA synthesis in vivo. Therefore the inhibitory effect of anthralin on DNA replication and repair synthesis in T98G cells does not appear to result from the direct interaction of the drug with DNA.