In-Vitro Anti-Lithiatic Activity Studies Using Selected Plant Varieties for Sustainable Remedies on Kidney Stone Disease

Abstract

Urinary calculi, the third most prevalent disorder in human urinary system, commonly known as kidney stones relates to the precipitation of solid concentrations at any point of the urinary tract. Commonly, stones are formed as a product of poorly soluble salts or composites present in urine. Approximately 80% of these calculi are composed of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate (Lucena et al., 2014). According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO) (WHO guidelines on good agricultural and collection practices (GACP) for medicinal plants, 2000), greater than 80% of the total world’s population depends on the traditional medicine in order to satisfy their primary health care needs. This research was carried out to examine the potential opportunities of dissolving artificial urinary stones by using three different parts of three different plant varieties which are commonly used by Sri Lankan traditional medical practitioners. Nigella sativa seeds, Bryophyllum pinnatum leaves, Annona muricata fruits and the standard drug cystone (already use as a drug to cure this disease in Sri Lankan aurvedic practice) were used as the study sample against the artificial calcium oxalate crystals and clinical stone samples. A series of concentrations (2.0 mg, 4.0 mg, 6.0 mg, 8.0 mg, 10.0 mg, 12.0 mg, 14.0 mg and 16.0 mg from each sample) were prepared from the crude extracts of study samples, and the experimental model was prepared using egg shells to prepare an artificial human body cell. Dissolution percentage of artificial calcium oxalate (1.0 mg) and clinical stone samples (1.0 mg) were determined using titrimetric method. According to the results obtained, N. sativa seed methanol extract gave the highest dissolution percentage of 55% for artificisl calcium oxalate sample, while aqueous extract of B. pinnatum leaf dissolves only 53%. For the clinical stone samples, dissolution percentage was 47%, 39%, and 50% respectively by the aqueous extract of N. sativa seeds, aqueous extract of A. muricata fruit flesh and by cystone. On the other hand, 55%, 50%, 31%, 36% and 33% of dissolution percentages were shown by B. pinnatum leaf aqueous extract, cystone, aqueous extract of N. sativa seeds, methanol extract of N. sativa seeds and aqueous extract of A. muricata fruit flesh respectively on clinical stone samples. The results of the study suggest that B. pinnatum leaf aqueous extract is effective in dissolving urinary calculi which proves the common practice in Sri Lankan traditional medicine.

Keywords: urinary calculi, Nigella sativa L., Bryophyllum pinnatum, Annona muricata, artificial calcium oxalate