A selection of essential oils obtained by steam distillation from scented-leaf Pelargonium species, hybrids and cultivars were assessed for their method of spasmolytic activity in vitro using an isolated smooth muscle preparation. Their mechanism of action was postsynaptic and not atropine-like. The spasmolytic action was correlated with the chemical composition of the essential oils assessed by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. The spasmolytic effect of Pelargonium essential oils with a rose-like odour was most likely mediated through cAMP, and not through cGMP; the action of all other essential oils with diverse odours was neither through cAMP, cGMP, nor via calcium channel blockade or potassium channel activation. The mechanism of action of the main components of the rose-like pelargoniums, citronellol and geraniol, reflected that of the whole oils.
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Lis‐Balchin et al. (1998) studied this question.