Plasticizer acetyl triethyl citrate (ATEC) induces lipogenesis and obesity

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.