Mitochondrial activity of semen cells as marker for cereulide toxin

Detection and quantification of cereulide is mostly performed using chemical methods asUPLC-MS/MS although these methods do not encompass the biological impact of the (iso)cereulidecocktail produced by B. cereus strains. The use of (boar) semen cells to assess the biological impact ofcereulide was reported twenty years ago by means of phase-contrast microscopy, resulting in a binary(positive or negative) outcome. In this study, we employ this functional bioassay together with detailedreal-time measurements of the cell’s oxygen (O2) consumption and environmental acidification toobtain quantitative observations of the semen cell response towards exposure to (iso)cereulide. This research was partially conducted in the contect of WP6 of the EU Horizon2020 "Imptox" project.