Fetotoxic effects of mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP) in mice.

Mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), one of the main metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), exerted embryo/fetotoxic effects similar to those of DEHP at lower doses. Oral administration of MEHP (1 mL/kg) to the mice of 8 days gestation resulted in less than 32% of live fetuses, all of which were deformed. When DEHP (10 mL/kg) was given to the pregnant mice of 8 days gestation, approximately 0.03% and 0.003% of the administered dose was found in fetuses as DEHP and MEHP, respectively, after 12 hr. The presence of the MEHP in fetuses is probably due to the transplacental crossing of the MEHP formed in the maternal body, since the fetuses of mice up to day 9 of pregnancy showed no hydrolytic activity of DEHP to MEHP. Crossing of MEHP through the placenta was proven by an experiment in which MEHP was administered in pregnant mice. A single injection of MEHP (25 or 50 mg/kg), but not DEHP (500 mg/kg) into pregnant mice, induced a significantly high incidence of somatic mutations in the coat hair of offspring of mice (KYG, female X PW, male; C57BL/6Crj, female X PW, male). All these data suggest that MEHP could be responsible for the embryotoxic/fetotoxic effects observed with DEHP.