The present study aims to evaluate the effects of repeated
exposure
to 2-ethylhexyldiphenyl phosphate (EHDPP) on human liver cells. In vitro three-dimensional (3D) hepatospheroid cell culture
was utilized to explore the potential mechanisms of EHDPP-mediated
metabolic disruption through morphological, transcriptional, and biochemical
assays. Lipidomics analysis was performed on the individual hepatospheroids
to investigate the effects on intracellular lipid profiles, followed
by hepatospheroid morphology, growth, functional parameters, and cytotoxicity
evaluation. The possible mechanisms were delineated using the gene-level
analysis by assessing the expression of key genes encoding for hepatic
lipid metabolism. We revealed that exposure to EHDPP at 1 and 10 μM
for 7 days alters the lipid profile of human 3D hepatospheroids. Dysregulation
in several lipid classes, including sterol lipids (cholesterol esters),
sphingolipids (dihydroceramide, hexosylceramide, ceramide, sphingomyelin),
glycerolipids (triglycerides), glycerophospholipids, and fatty acyls,
was noted along with alteration in genes including ACAT1, ACAT2, CYP27A1,
ABCA1, GPAT2, PNPLA2, PGC1α, and Nrf2. Our study brings a novel
insight into the metabolic disrupting effects of EHDPP and demonstrates
the utility of hepatospheroids as an in vitro cell
culture model complemented with omics technology (e.g., lipidomics) for mechanistic toxicity studies.