Evaluation of Coscinium fenestratum (Goetgh.) Colebr. stem extracts for urolithiasis and quantification of bioactive alkaloids to validate the traditional claims

Abstract

Coscinium fenestratum (Goetgh.) Colebr. is widely used for urinary disorders and kidney stones by ethnic communities in southern India. The species is documented in various ancient Indian Ayurvedic literatures having therapeutic use in ‘Ashmari’ i.e., urolithiasis. The present study aims at validation of in-vitro anti-urolithiatic potential of various extracts of C. fenestratum stem along with identification and quantification of major bioactive alkaloids, i.e., berberine and palmatine through HPTLC and LC-MS/MS. Water extract showed maximum anti-urolithiatic activity which on further kinetic analysis, showed concentration dependent inhibitory delay in nucleation and aggregation of calcium oxalate crystals. Berberine and palmatine were quantified with maximum content in methanolic extract (0.478 ± 0.003 and 0.0358 ± 0.001) followed by chloroform and petroleum ether extracts. The study validates ethnobotanical use of C. fenestratum as anti-urolithiatic agent. Further, species can also be explored as a substitute for Berberis spp. for the alkaloid metabolites i.e., berberine and palmatine.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Coscinium fenestratum
• berberine
• palmatine
• anti-urolithiatic
• HPTLC
• LC-MS/MS

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Director CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow for providing necessary facilities and encouragement during the course of study. The NBRI manuscript number is ‘CSIR-NBRI_MS/2021/08/02’. The authors are also grateful to Waters India Pvt. Ltd. for the LC-MS/MS analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Deepali Tripathi is also thankful to CSIR, New Delhi, for fellowship grant (File number: 31/008(0403)/2019-EMR-I).