In vitro acyclovir triphosphate stops replication of herpes viral DNA.
This is complished in 3 ways.
1.Competitive inhibition of viral DNA polymerase,
2.Incorporation into and termination of the growing viral DNA chain,
3.inactivation of the viral DNA polymerase. The greater antiviral activity of acyclovir against HSV compred to VZV is due to its more efficient phosphorylation by the viral TK.
uninfected cell since uptake of the drug