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Metabolite Monomethyl Phthalate (MMP) Induces Oxidative Damage in Rat Erythrocytes: Role of Vitamins C and E

Cambridge Prisms Plastics 2025
Xuxin Zhang, Xu Gao, Zhenxing Chi

Summary

Researchers found that monomethyl phthalate (MMP), a metabolite of the plasticizer dimethyl phthalate, induces significant oxidative damage to rat red blood cells, and that vitamins C and E can partially protect against this toxicity, linking phthalate exposure to cellular oxidative stress.

Polymers
Body Systems
Study Type In vivo

Dimethyl phthalate (DMP) can enter the human body and be absorbed into the bloodstream to produce monomethyl phthalate (MMP). MMP in the environment can also enter the bloodstream. However, little is known about the toxicity of the phthalate metabolite MMP in most organisms. In this study, the erythrocyte toxicity of MMP and a preventive approach were investigated using Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats as the model animal under MMP concentrations of 5-250 mg/kg (sub-chronic exposure in vivo) and 1.25-100 μg/mL (acute exposure in vitro). The experimental results indicate that the interaction of MMP with erythrocytes caused oxidative damage, which decreased the number of red blood cells and the hemoglobin content and increased the content of methemoglobin and the iron release of hemoglobin in rat blood. However, the above results were not observed when MMP directly interacted with hemoglobin. The antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin E improved the above blood indicators in rats. The results of this study provide certain theoretical guidance for the evaluation of the potential risks of phthalate metabolites.

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