erythro-9-[3-(2-Hydroxynonyl)]adenine is an effective inhibitor of cell motility and actin assembly.

Abstract
Erythro-9-[3-(2-Hydroxynonyl)]adenine (EHNA) has been reported previously to be an agent that arrests sperm motility by inhibiting the axonemal dynein ATPase activity and has been used to probe the involvement of putative cytoplasmic dyneins in mitosis and intracellular organelle transport. EHNA profoundly and reversibly affected several actin-dependent processes, both in vivo and in vitro. It induces dramatic changes in actin organization in cultured cells, inhibits cell translocation, blocks actin-dependent cytoplasmic streaming, interferes with actin-dependent gelation of cytoplasmic extracts, and inhibits actin assembly. Just as the cytochalasins, EHNA appears to be a highly effective inhibitor of actin-based motility, whose effects in complex biological systems should be interpreted with caution.