# Impact of Epidemiologically Based Phthalate Exposures on Female Reproduction and Metabolism

> **NIH ES R01** · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · 2026 · $400,633

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Phthalates are used in beauty and personal care products, food packaging, medical devices, and the coating of
some medications. Human biomonitoring analyses demonstrate constant human phthalate exposure due to the
ability of these chemicals to leach from these products. Many epidemiological studies have reported associations
between phthalate burden and human metabolic and reproductive health outcomes. Women of reproductive age
are considered a high exposure/high risk population based on biomonitoring data showing higher phthalate
burden, greater use of cosmetics and personal care products, and higher exposures in the occupational setting.
Phthalate exposure in women has been associated with early menopause, decreased ovarian follicle counts,
reduced egg yield, increased early pregnancy loss, and reduced clinical pregnancies and live births.
Concurrently, phthalate exposure has also been associated with metabolic dysfunction including obesity,
metabolic syndrome, and fatty liver disease. Unfortunately, the mechanisms underlying these associations are
not understood and make preventative or therapeutic actions challenging. We developed a phthalate-treated
mouse model in which exposure to human relevant levels of phthalates replicates phenotypes associated with
phthalate exposures in humans. Using toxicoproteomic and lipidomic approaches we show that antral follicles
from these mice have dysregulated abundance of lipid metabolism proteins, high intrafollicular saturated free
fatty acids, and high intrafollicular acylcarnitine content. We propose to test the overall hypothesis that phthalate
mixture exposure leads to stimulated fatty acid synthesis with concurrent inhibition of fatty acid oxidation. We
propose that these effects are mediated via changes in the transcription of fatty acid synthesis and oxidation
proteins through dysregulated LXR-SREBP1c and PPAR signaling pathways, and that persistent, long-term
exposure to phthalate mixtures wi

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11360109
- **Project number:** 5R01ES037265-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
- **Principal Investigator:** Zelieann Rivera Craig
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ES
- **Fiscal year:** 2026
- **Award amount:** $400,633
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2025-06-24T00:00:00 → 2030-03-31T00:00:00

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11360109

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11360109, Impact of Epidemiologically Based Phthalate Exposures on Female Reproduction and Metabolism (5R01ES037265-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-07-09 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11360109. Licensed CC0.

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