Assessing the neurotoxic risks of triethyl citrate in daily environmental exposure using network toxicology and molecular docking

Synthetic chemicals like triethyl citrate (TEC) are widely used in food packaging, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Despite being considered safe, there are concerns about TEC's potential neurotoxic effects. In this study, we used network toxicology and molecular docking to examine TEC's impact on the nervous system. We identified 229 targets related to neurotoxicity and found that TEC may affect key processes such as cell death, inflammation, and neuronal health. Molecular docking showed strong interactions between TEC and proteins like MAPK3, SRC, CASP3, TNF, and BCL2, suggesting a risk of neural damage and the need for further research to assess TEC's safety.