Organic UV absorbers (UVAs) are contaminants of emerging concern. Environmental persistence and potential toxicological enrichment studies of UVAs have attracted international concern. It is important to study the toxicity mechanism of UVAs. This study is the first to report the toxicological mechanism of two cinnamate UV absorbers (CUVAs), 2-ethyl 4-methoxycinnamate (OMC) and isoamyl 4-methoxycinnamate (IMC) based on cellular models and molecular models. Cellular models demonstrated that the CUVAs-induced apoptosis might be associated with cellular mitochondrial damage pathways. The results of molecular models showed that OMC and IMC could affect the binding between major proteins and enzymes in the mitochondrial damage pathway and contaminants, ultimately leading to apoptosis. The cellular-molecular models showed that IMC and OMC have dose–effect relationships on cytotoxicity. The composite model is more informative than a single model. This study further indicate that UVAs causes toxicology effects that have implications for the environment and human health.

有机紫外线吸收剂 (UVA) 是新出现的污染物。UVA 的环境持久性和潜在毒理学富集研究引起了国际关注。研究UVA的毒性机制很重要。本研究首次基于细胞模型和分子模型报道了两种肉桂酸酯紫外线吸收剂 (CUVA)、4-甲氧基肉桂酸 2-乙酯 (OMC) 和 4-甲氧基肉桂酸异戊酯 (IMC) 的毒理学机制。细胞模型表明，CUVAs 诱导的细胞凋亡可能与细胞线粒体损伤途径有关。分子模型结果表明，OMC和IMC可影响线粒体损伤通路中主要蛋白和酶与污染物的结合，最终导致细胞凋亡。细胞分子模型表明，IMC 和 OMC 对细胞毒性具有剂量效应关系。复合模型比单个模型提供更多信息。这项研究进一步表明，UVA 会导致对环境和人类健康产生影响的毒理学效应。