In vitro Pharmacological Evaluation of Herbal Tea for the Treatment of Urolithiasis

Urolithiasis arises from the precipitation and crystallization of stone-forming minerals in the kidneys due to urine supersaturation. Calcium oxalate are the most prevalent among the stone-forming minerals. In Ayurveda, herbal remedies have been used in the treatment of urolithiasis. This study aimed to evaluate herbal tea extracts of Trigonella foenum-graecum L. leaves, Mimosa pudica L. leaves, and Zea mays L. silk for their anti-urolithiatic activity in vitro. Three formulations of herbal tea bag of the combination of Trigonella foenum-graecum Leaves, Mimosa pudica Leaves, and Zea mays silk were prepared in the following proportions; 50:25:25 (formulation 1), 25:50:25 (formulation 2), and 25:25:50 (formulation 3). Calcium oxalate crystals were precipitated by reaction between calcium chloride and sodium oxalate. The anti-urolithiatic effect of the herbal tea formulations was investigated via the nucleation and aggregation assays. The drug cystone was used as the standard. The calcium oxalate crystals in both assays were examined microscopically to determine their sizes, shapes and quantities. Results showed that the three herbal tea formulations exhibited significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of calcium oxalate crystal both in the nucleation and aggregation assays. The highest anti-urolithiatic effect was observed at 1.0 mg/mL for tea bag formulation 1, with percentage inhibition of 94.89%, and 81.45% in the nucleation and aggregation assays, respectively. Microscopic examination revealed a reduction of calcium oxalate crystals in the test samples compared to the control. This study has demonstrated the efficacy of herbal tea in dissolving calcium oxalate crystals and reducing stone formation, indicating its promising anti-urolithiasis activity.