EVALUATION OF ACUTE TOXICITY AND ANTI UROLITHIATIC ACTIVITY OF URAL CAPSULE

ABSTRACT

                Urolithiasis is the third most common disorder of urinary system with high recurrence rate. The present day medical management of urolithiasis is either quite expensive or not without side effects. Invasive treatment procedures for urolithiasis always include risk of serious complications along with high cost to the patient. Hence the search for anti-urolithiatic drugs from natural sources has been of greater importance.  Ural capsule is the patent & proprietary Ayurvedic formulation used for the treatment of kidney stone. Majority of its ingredients are reported individually for the treatment of urolithiasis in Ayurvedic texts. However, no such evidence was found available which proves safety and efficacy of such combinations. Hence, present study was conducted to evaluate toxicity and anti-urolithiatic efficacy of Ural Capsule. Healthy male Wistar rats were used in the present study and were divided randomly into 3 groups. Group I was considered as normal control and was fed 1% Carboxy Methyl Cellulose (CMC) suspension. Group II was considered as lithiatic control and served 0.75% ethylene glycol in drinking water ad libitum for 28 days. Group III was considered as Ural capsule treated (UCT) and received 0.75% ethylene glycol in drinking water ad libitum. After 14^th day and 28^th day blood and urine sample were collected. Bio-chemical parameters like calcium, phosphorus, creatinine and uric acid were estimated in serum and urine. Histopathology of kidney was also carried out. Ural capsule treatment showed highly significant effect on urine and serum biochemical parameters. No mortality was observed during acute oral toxicity study at 2000 mg/kg and 5000 mg/kg. From the available data it can be concluded that the treatment of Ural capsule showed significant anti-urolithiatic effect on ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in rats. It can be a safe and effective therapy for the treatment of kidney stone.

Key words: Ural capsule, Ethylene glycol, Urolithiasis, Acute toxicity study.