Nephrotoxic effects of di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) hydrolysis products on cultured kidney epithelial cells:

1 Di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate (DEHP) possesses a great industrial value as a plasticizing agent and has become an ubiquitous environmental contaminant. In most species it is rapidly metabolized to mono-(2-ethylhexyl)-phthalate (MEHP) and 2-ethylhexanoic acid (2- EHA). Evaluation of toxicity of DEHP and its primary metabolites has been focussed on reproductive toxicity and hepatocarcinogenic properties. The aim of this study was to determine the nephrotoxic potential of both DEHP metabolites by use of cultured kidney epithelial cells (Opossum kidney cells; OK cells).2 For this purpose, OK cells were exposed for 3 days to MEHP and 2-EHA at concentrations ranging from 0.1 -500 mmol/L and the toxicity as well as the effects on migratory activity and intracellular cytoskeleton were studied by cell biological, morphological and morpho-metric methods.3 When compared with corresponding controls, treatment of OK cells with MEHP and 2-EHA, respectively, showed marked differences in cell viability between both DEHP ...