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A vacuole-formation substance, cereulide of Bacillus cereus, is an emetic toxin in animals. Both oral administration and intraperitoneal injection of cereulide caused dose-dependent emesis in Suncus murinus, a new animal model of emesis. Vagotomy or a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist completely abolished this emetic effect. Therefore, cereulide causes emesis through the 5-HT3 receptor and stimulation of the vagus afferent. We also found that our purified cereulide caused swelling of mitochondria of HEp-2 cells.
Agata et al. (1995) studied this question.