Biochemical effects of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate.

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) is a widely used plasticizer in the plastics industry. Biochemical changes in rat blood and liver were studied at 21 days after 3 intraperitoneal injections of DEHP on days 1, 5 and 10. In the liver, a decrease in the activity of succinic dehyrogenase (SDH) and adenosine triphosphate and an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity was observed. In serum the activity of acid and alkaline phosphatases and glutamic oxaloacetic and glutamic pyruvic transaminases remained unaltered. Under in vitro conditions, only the activity of SDH was inhibited when homogenates or mitochondrial preparations from normal rat liver were incubated with DEHP and the degree of inhibition was related to the concentration of the plasticizer.