Cytotoxic and Antimicrobial Activities of Turkish Rose Oil and its Major Metabolite S-(-)-Citronellol

Year 2024, Volume: 28 Issue: 4, 899 - 911, 28.06.2025

Canan Vejselova Sezer , Hüseyin İzgördü , Gökalp İşcan , Arzu İşcan , Hatice Mehtap Kutlu

Abstract

Oil Rose (Rosa x damascena Mill.) has a great economic value in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries with its essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation. Essential oils are usually volatile at room temperature and they have strong biological effects. These aromatic natural extracts have been used for centuries for their therapeutic properties. Turkish Rose oil has great economic value for Türkiye and is widely used in current aromatherapy applications with its sedative and relaxing effects, besides its usage in cosmetic and fragrance industries. Furthermore, rose oil is one of the preferred aromatherapy oils for increasing the quality of life of cancer patients during chemotherapy. In this study, the cytotoxic, proapoptotic and antibacterial effects of rose oil and its major component citronellol were studied on A549 human lung cancer cells and Beas-2B healthy human lung epithelial cells. Antibacterial tests were performed with CLSI methods. For cytotoxicity test MTT technique was used. Results showed, cytotoxicity (IC50 value of 16.9 μg/mL), antiproliferative, antibacterial (MIC value of 750 μg/mL) and proapoptotic effects of citronellol. Additionally, morphological and ultrastructural changes indicating apoptosis were detected. Based on the findings, structural alterations in mitochondria and cell membranes, along with chromatin condensation and apoptotic alterations, were observed in A549 cells. Rose oil and citronellol induced apoptosis in both cell lines at different concentrations.

Keywords

Rosa x damascena Mill. , Rose Oil , Cytotoxicity , Lung cancer , Citronellol.

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