Evaluation of invivo anti-lithiatic activity of polyherbal formulation in ameliorating calcium oxalate kidney stones and integrated invitro-insilico studies.

The present study validates invivo anti-lithiatic activity of a polyherbal formulation (URO-5) on calcium oxalate (CaOx) stones. The effect of URO-5 on CaOx crystallization was tested invitro and Insilico molecular docking was conducted to explore the mechanism of action. Invitro studies showed that URO-5 drastically reduces the number of CaOx crystals and facilitate the efflux due to alteration in their morphology. It promotes the formation of dihydrate type of crystals. The inhibition (IC50) of crystal nucleation and aggregation at low concentration of 4.51 and 11.17 mg/ml suggests antagonistic action on crystallization. URO-5 characterized through high performance liquid chromatography showed the presence of eight bioactive metabolites and insilico data suggest that anti-lithiatic activity of URO-5 was mediated via calcium, oxalate, and antioxidant dependent pathways. Invivo activity (500 mg/kg) reveals that CaOx crystals efflux were prominent (> 80 %) in URO-5 and is at par with Cystone®. The decrease in tissue calcium and increase in urine calcium was significant (p < 0.05) at 15.14 and 74.08 μg/mg. Interestingly, URO-5 also repairs the tissue damage caused by CaOx stones and was non-toxic under the tested conditions. In nutshell, URO-5 is a safe and efficacious alternative and can be used as an adjuvant therapy in urolithiasis.