2. Academic Validation
  3. Plasticizer acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC) induces lipogenesis and obesity

Plasticizer acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC) induces lipogenesis and obesity

  • Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2023 Dec 10:116788. doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2023.116788.
Peiqi Li 1,  Qian Xu 1,  Weigao Zhang 1,  Danyang Zhang 1,  Xin Liao 2,  Xunan Zhao 1,  Jianfa Zhang 1,  Tingzhe Sun 3,  Dan Weng 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, 200 Xiaolingwei Street, Nanjing 210094, China.
  • 2 Guangxi Mangrove Research Center, Guangxi Key Lab of Mangrove Conservation and Utilization, Beihai 536000, China.
  • 3 School of Life Sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anhui 246011, China. Electronic address: suntz@aqnu.edu.cn.
  • 4 School of Environmental and Biological Engineering, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, 200 Xiaolingwei Street, Nanjing 210094, China. Electronic address: danweng@njust.edu.cn.
PMID: 38086441 DOI: 10.1016/j.taap.2023.116788
Abstract

Environmental chemicals, such as plasticizers, have been linked to increased rates of obesity, according to epidemiological studies. Acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC) is a plasticizer that is commonly utilized in pharmaceutical products and food packaging as a non-phthalate alternative. Due to its direct contact with the human body and high leakage rate from the Polymers, assessment of the potential risk of ATEC exposure at environmentally relevant low doses to human health is needed. Male C57BL/6 J mice were fed diets containing ATEC at doses of either 0.1 or 10 μg/kg per day in a period of 12 weeks to mimic the real exposure environment. The findings suggest that in C57BL/6 J mice, ATEC exposure resulted in increased body weight gain, body fat percentage, and benign hepatocytes, as well as adipocyte size. Consistent with in vivo models, ATEC treatment obviously stimulated the increase of intracellular lipid load in both mouse and human hepatocytes. Mechanically, ATEC induced the transcriptional expression of genes involved in de novo lipogenesis and lipid uptake. Using both Enzyme inhibitor and small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection, we found that stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD1) played a significant role in ATEC-induced intracellular lipid accumulation. This study for the first time provided initial evidence suggesting the obesogenic and fatty liver-inducing effect of ATEC at low doses near human exposure levels, and ATEC might be a potential environmental obesogen and its effect on human health need to be further evaluated.

Keywords

ATEC; Fatty liver; Lipid metabolism; Obesity; Plasticizer.

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