Pelargonium graveolens L., (Geranium) essential oil from Northeast India: chemical composition, pharmacology and genotoxicity study

Abstract

Pelargonium graveolens L., essential oil (EO) has various therapeutic properties, including aromatherapy. The present experiment was designed to investigate chemical makeup of the P. graveolens (Geranium) EO from Northeast India using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID), and the pharmacological potential was determined using a range of assays along with Allium cepa assay for genotoxicity study. GC-MS analysis of the EO revealed the presence of 11 compounds with a total 97.43% identified area, with citronellol (32.84%), geraniol (23.62%), and citronellyl formate (12.14%) as the major compounds. The essential oil exhibited type-II anti-diabetic properties with an IC50 6.66 μL/mL and skin whitening potential IC50 of 1.89 μL/mL. P. graveolens EO (IC50 26.16 μL/mL) was found to possess comparatively weaker anti-inflammatory agent than the standard diclofenac (IC50 9.24 μL/mL) in the protease inhibitory test. The EO demonstrated moderate antioxidant activity with an IC50 value of 22.68 μL/mL than ascorbic acid IC50 12.53 μL/mL in the ABTS assay. The EO was found to moderately affect the mitotic index (15.32%) and induce chromosomal aberrations (11.40%) at a concentration of 1 μL/mL after 72 h of exposure. Based on the findings the Northeast Indian variety of P. graveolens EO exhibits promising type-II anti-diabetic and skin whitening properties, which could be further utilized in the formulation of anti-diabetic and skin whitening agents after validation through clinical trials.