The enniatins A, A1, B, B1, B2 and B3 were purified from hexane-extracts of Fusarium avenaceum rice cultures, using semi-preparative HPLC, after precipitation of lipids. Their toxicity, as well as the toxicity of the related fungal metabolite beauvericin (Bea) and the trichothecenes deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin, was tested in two cell lines of human origin (hepatocellular carcinoma-line Hep G2 and fibroblast-like foetal lung cell line MRC-5) by using the BrdU and Alamar Blue assays. All the compounds evoked toxicity in the in vitro assays at the concentrations tested. The MRC-5 cell line in combination with the BrdU assay resulted in the lowest inhibitory concentrations (IC(50)) for exposure with enniatins in the range 0.8 microM (enniatin A) to 3.6 microM (enniatin B). The cytotoxicity of DON in the BrdU assay was comparable to the cytotoxicity of enniatins A, B and Bea in a multiple regression model, while DON was significantly more cytotoxic than the enniatins in the Alamar assay. This study indicates that enniatins, fungal metabolites that are commonly found in grain in Northern Europe, may have an underestimated toxic potential.