Rosa damascena Mill. Essential Oil: Analysis of In Vitro and In Vivo Genotoxic and Cytotoxic Potentials by Employing Three Cytogenetic Endpoints

The highly valued oil of <i>Rosa damascena</i> Mill. (Rosaceae), widely used in high perfumery, cosmetics, and other spheres of human life, obliges us to know and study the safety profile of the product obtained from the water-steam distillation of fresh rose petals. The genotoxicity of the essential oil (EsO) has not been thoroughly studied despite its wide range of applications. That predetermined the object of this study-to evaluate, through classical cytogenetic methods, the possible cytotoxic/genotoxic activities of <i>R. damascena</i> Mill. EsO (EsORdm) in three different test systems: plant root meristem cells, mammalian bone marrow cells, and human lymphocyte cultures. The rose essential oil showed varying concentration- and time-dependent cytotoxic and genotoxic effects depending on the test system used, and it was established that the oil showed moderate cytotoxicity in lymphocyte cultures and non-high cytotoxicity in ICR mice but none in barley. Both barley and human lymphocytes showed a genotoxic effect with a dose-dependent increase in chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and a substantial rise in micronucleus (MN) frequency, while no genotoxicity was observed in bone marrow cells at the applied concentrations. Human lymphocytes exhibited the highest susceptibility to cytotoxic and genotoxic actions of the EsO. As a valuable plant-derived aromatic product with versatile uses in human life, <i>R. damascena</i> Mill. essential oil should be used in an appropriate concentration range tailored to cellular sensitivity.