High Antiurolithiatic Capacities of Isolated Fractions of the Hydromethanolic Extract fromPituranthos scopariusRoots

Abstract

Natural products, such as plant extracts, open a new horizon for the discovery of new antiurolithiatic agents. In AlgeriaPituranthos scopariuscommonly known as “guezzah”, one of the most important plants medicinal Saharan is used for the treatment and prevention of urinary lithiasis. The present study deals with the in vitro evaluation of the inhibitory effect on the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones of isolated fractions fromPituranthos scopariusroots hydromethanolic extract. First, the study led to the isolation of four fractions (F1 = 107 mg, F2 = 19 mg, F3 = 7 mg, F4 = 18 mg) by combining two chromatographic techniques: open column chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC). The in vitro antiurolithiatic activity of different isolated fractions has been carried out by two different models. In the turbidimetric assay, we have determined spectrophotometrically the effect of the isolated fractions (1g/l) on the oxalocalcic crystallization, induced by the addition of oxalate in urines from four subjects, whereas the gravimetric assay is used to measure the variation of uric acid and calcium urate renal calculi weight, after putting them in contact with 3 ml of the isolated fractions (1 g/l) during 30 days. In the two assays, the antiurolithiatic activity was compared with that of six antiurolithogenesis inhibitory standards: sodium citrate, succinimide pharbiol, foncitril, alcaphor, allopurinol, and phosphoneuros. The achieved results measured by the two tests show clearly that the fraction 1 (F1) has provided very important antiurolithiatic power (> 50% of inhibition) compared to the standard inhibitors. The in vitro obtained experimental results in this study show that thePituranthos scopariusroots are a biologically active natural source for the treatment of oxalocalcic lithiasis. Therefore, further experiments will be required to identify the molecules involved in the antiurolithiatic effect and to study their in vivo effects, which can be used therapeutically.