ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE：To evaluate the in vitro and in vivo genotoxicity of emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside（EG），and to compare the difference of in vitro cell test and in vivo test of rats. METHODS：2D and 3D hepatocyte models were established by in vitro two-dimensional（2D）and three-dimensional（3D）cell culture. After modeling，2D and 3D hepatocyte were divided into blank control group（0.5％ DMSO），mitomycin C group（positive control，0.1 μg/mL），EG low-dose，medium-dose and high-dose groups（10，50，200 μg/mL），respectively. The micronucleus ratio and tail DNA％ of HepaRG cells were detected. SD rats were divided into blank control group（0.5％ sodium carboxymethyl cellulose），ethyl methanesulfonate group（positive control，200 mg/kg），EG low-dose，medium-dose and high-dose groups（100，300，1 000 mg/kg），with 6 rats in each group. They were given medicine intragastrically for consecutive 15 d，once a day. 15 days later，the micronucleus formation rate of bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes and hepatocytes，the tail DNA％ and tail distance of peripheral blood lymphocytes and hepatocytes were measured. RESULTS：In the in vitro 2D HepaRG hepatocyte model，compared with blank control group，the micronucleus formation rate and tail DNA％ of HepaRG cell were increased significantly in mitomycin C group （P＜0.01）. There was no statistical significance in micronucleus formation rate and tail DNA％ of HepaRG cell among EG groups（P＞0.05）. In 3D HepaRG cell model， compared with blank control group， micronucleus formation rate and tail DNA％ of HepaRG cell were increased significantly in mitomycin C group （P＜0.01 or P＜0.001）， while tail DNA％ of HepaRG cell was increased significantly in EG high-dose group（P＜0.01）. In the in vivo test，compared with blank control group，the micronucleus formation rate of bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes and hepatocytes，the tail DNA％ and tail distance of peripheral blood lymphocytes and hepatocytes were all increased significantly in ethyl methanesulfonate group（P＜0.01）. Tail DNA％ of peripheral blood lymphocytes was increased significantly in EG high-dose group （P＜0.01）. There was no statistical significance in the micronucleus formation rate of bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes and hepatocytes，the tail DNA％ and tail distance of hepatocytes among EG groups（P＞0.05）；with the increase of dose，there was an increasing trend. CONCLUSIONS：The results of this study suggest that in 2D cell model，EG not lead to chromosome breakage and DNA damage，but the long-term administration and repeated administration in vivo of 3D cell model show that EG has a certain risk of DNA damage，so the evaluation results of 3D HepaRG cell model are more similar to those of rats in vivo. KEYWORDS Emodin-8-O-β-D-glucoside；Genotoxicity；Two-dimensional culture；Three-dimensional culture；Rat；Micronucleus test