LOS ANGELES (Dispatches) -- Researchers have discovered a phthalate -- a chemical used to make plastics more durable -- led to increased plasma cholesterol levels.
The Study leader Changcheng Zhou , a biomedical scientist at the University of California, Riverside, said they found dicyclohexyl phthalate, or DCHP, strongly binds to a receptor called pregnane X receptor, or PXR. DCHP ‘turns on’ PXR in the gut, inducing the expression of key proteins required for cholesterol absorption and transport. The experiments show that DCHP elicits high cholesterol by targeting intestinal PXR signaling.
Zhou’s team also found that mice exposed to DCHP had in their intestines higher circulating “ceramides” -- a class of waxy lipid molecules associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk in humans -- in a way that was PXR-dependent.