Abstract

Kidney stone has tormented humans since the earliest records of civilization. Urinary stones are one of the oldest and the most common afflictions in humans. Calcium containing stones are the most common comprising about 75% of all urinary calculi, which may be in the form of pure calcium oxalate (50%) or calcium phosphate (5%) or a mixture of both (45 %). 10% of men and 3 % of women have a stone during their adult lives. A number of plants have been mentioned in the Indian ayurvedic system, which can prevent formation or dissolve kidney stones. In the present study, the inhibitory potency of different extracts of seeds of Elettaria cardamomum were evaluated on various stages of formation and on the growth of calcium oxalate crystals in vitro. A result obtained showed that alcoholic and aqueous extract has the higher capacity to inhibit the crystal formation and aggregation as compared to ethyl acetate and petroleum ether extracts.

Key words: Calcium oxalate, Elettaria cardamomum, antiurolithiasis