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Review
. 2021 Feb 27;22(5):2380.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22052380.

Maternal Reproductive Toxicity of Some Essential Oils and Their Constituents

Noura S Dosoky  1 , William N Setzer  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Maternal Reproductive Toxicity of Some Essential Oils and Their Constituents

Noura S Dosoky et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Even though several plants can improve the female reproductive function, the use of herbs, herbal preparations, or essential oils during pregnancy is questionable. This review is focused on the effects of some essential oils and their constituents on the female reproductive system during pregnancy and on the development of the fetus. The major concerns include causing abortion, reproductive hormone modulation, maternal toxicity, teratogenicity, and embryo-fetotoxicity. This work summarizes the important studies on the reproductive effects of essential oil constituents anethole, apiole, citral, camphor, thymoquinone, trans-sabinyl acetate, methyl salicylate, thujone, pulegone, β-elemene, β-eudesmol, and costus lactone, among others.

Keywords: anethole; apiole; camphor; citral; essential oils; methyl salicylate; pregnancy; pulegone; thujone; trans-sabinyl acetate.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of key essential oil components discussed in this review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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