Mitochondrial Toxicity of Bacillus cereus Emetic Toxin with Intestinal and Liver Toxicological Endpoints

Microbial toxins are virulence factors that can exist independently from their microorganism at the moment of consumption, i.e. the pathogen may be inactive, while the toxin is still present and biologically active. Production of microbial toxins usually occurs in low doses which does not result in immediate, visible, intoxication symptoms. Recent findings showed that Bacillus cereus emetic toxin cereulide is present in numerous ready-to-serve foods at low doses. Therefore, this presentation will show the latest findings related to the effects of sub-clinical concentrations of B. cereus emetic toxin (and related depsipeptide mycotoxins), found in the cereal-based foods, on human intestinal and liver cells, which are considered primary targets for these toxins. The major changes to mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis in Caco2, HepG2 and HepaRG cells, measured by extracellular flux analysis, show that the impact of these toxins was much below acute intoxication doses. This suggests the need for new inputs in risk assessment studies. For this purpose, complementary data generated by different omics techniques will elucidate some of the host-microbe interactions.