Efficacy of Herbmed Plus in urolithic rats: An experimental study

ABSTRACT

Background: In Ayurveda, several herbs and formulations are available for the treatment of Urolithiasis.However, they are not systematically evaluated for their safety, efficacy, indication and limitations.Herbmed Plus is one such herbal formulation that has been known for the management of urinary tractdisorders. An attempt has been made to evaluate its efficacy on Urolithiasis.Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Herbmed Plus in urolithic rats.Materials and methods: A total of 60 Wistar albino rats were used for this study. The male and female ratswere divided into five groups disease control, test (dose 90 mg/kg), standard I (Cystone), standard II(Alkaston insta) and normal control (six in each group). Urolithiasis was induced using ethylene glycol0.75% in drinking water for 28 days. The rats with urinary oxalate crystals were dosed with oral test orstandard treatments for 28 days.Results: All the animals appeared normal and showed no clinical signs of toxicity. None of the groups reported mortality or adverse effect on body weight and food consumption. The treatment with test drugshowed improvement in the SGPT level and urine output (5.4 vs 3.47 mL/24 h). A drastic reduction in numberof crystals were observed in male 0.5 vs 22 and female rats 0 vs 22.7 in test and disease group. The kidneylactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, urinary phosphorus and calcium oxalate level decreased in thetest and standard drug groups as compared to disease groups. Microscopy of the urine samples showedreduction in the number of crystals after treatment compared to the urolithic group. Increase in citrate levelsin urine in all the treatment groups indicated anti-urolithiatic activity. The test group showed a 69.70% recovery in males and 47.57% recovery in female rats compared to the disease control group.Conclusion: Herbmed Plus showed a significant reduction in oxalate synthesizing enzymes suggestinganti-urolithiatic activity and anti-inflammatory and regenerative property in cellular injury caused bycrystal deposits