To assess the potential effects of environmental pollutants belonging to the musk fragrances group in the physiology of aquatic animal species, in this work we treated rainbow trout RTG-2 cells with the polycyclic ketone tonalide (AHTN) at dilutions ranging from 3.5 to 500 ng/ml. The following parameters were monitored: intracellular ATP concentration (energy production), mitochondrial membrane potential (early apoptosis marker), cell viability (vital staining with DFP), quantitative expression of genes coding for the cytochrome P450 detoxifying enzymes CYP1A1 and CYP3A27, and of genes coding for the immunoregulatory peptides IL-1β, IL-8, TNFα, Cox-2 and TGF-β. Obtained results showed that incubation with tonalide induced in RTG-2 cells no effects on cell viability, a slight increase of mitochondrial membrane potential activity, and a significant increase in intracellular ATP concentration. However, dramatic effects were observed in transcription levels of some tested genes, with upregulation levels of 300 and 600 times measured for TGF-β and TNFα, respectively and of 150 times for the CYP3A27 gene. Our results show for the first time the potent effects exerted by tonalide on immunoregulatory genes of RTG-2 cells and also indicate that the measured sensitivity of RTG-2 towards tonalide was in the same range of that currently available using chemical methods. A possible use of the panel of genes we employed as a tool for the monitoring of musk fragrances in biological samples is discussed.