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Influence of Dietary Fat and Di-2-ethylhexyl Phthalate on Tissue Lipids in Rats^1,2,

Biochemistry Research Division, Department of Medicine, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Inc., Baltimore, Maryland 21215

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is known to be widely distributed in the food chain, and previous studies have identified DEHP as a constituent of heart muscle mitochondrial lipids. The present paper describes an interaction between dietary DEHP and fat on gain in body weight and on the organ weights and lipid content of liver, heart and kidney in rats. Groups of rats were fed a basal fat-free diet supplemented with either 0.1% DEHP or 4% stripped lard or both for a period of 44 days. Dietary DEHP caused an increase in liver weight irrespective of the fat content in the diet. Although, in the absence of dietary fat, DEHP did not significantly change the body weight and the weight of the epididymal fat pad, with the addition of dietary fat, DEHP potentiated the growth-promoting effect of the fat itself, indicating the existence of an interaction between the two dietary constituents. Among the three organs examined for DEHP content, the liver was the only tissue in which DEHP failed to accumulate as a result of dietary supplementation with this substance. Furthermore, dietary fat and DEHP acted synergistically in increasing the total lipid content of the liver. These observations strongly suggest the existence of an interaction between dietary DEHP and fat on lipid metabolism.

KEY WORDS: • di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate • dietary fat • lipid metabolism • plasticizer

¹ Supported in part by National Institutes of Health Grant AM-02131: General Research Support Grant 5SO-1RR-05478 and by Travenol Laboratories, Morton Grove, Ill.

² A preliminary report of this work was presented at the Conference on Phthalic Acid Esters, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Pinehurst, N. C., September 6–7, 1972.

Manuscript received 21 May 1973.