COMMON ANTIUROLITHIATIC MEDICINAL PLANTS IN PERSIAN MEDICINE: A REVIEW

Urolithiasis is a common urological disease with considerable recurrence and morbidity which has affected human science ancient to now. Persian Medicine, an indigenous system of Iranian Traditional Medicine, offers vast herbal list for treatment of urinary stones. This review focuses on the most common antiurolithiatc medicinal plants mentioned in four major Persian literatures and their supporting new evidence and mechanisms of action. Medicinal plants mentioned in four main traditional manuscripts of Persian Medicine, including the books of «Canon of Medicine», «Liber Continens», «Zakhire Kharazmshahi» and «The Royal Book» for treatment of urinary stones were elicited. Then common antiurolithiatic herbs in all these four books were selected and searched in electronic databases including PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, Magiran and SID to find studies that confirmed their efficacy. The findings included over all 124 plants with antiurolithiatic activities that 8 herbs were common among the all four major traditional resources of Persian Medicine. Scientific findings have revealed that these plants control urolithiasis through different mechanisms of action contain diuretic activity, antioxidant activity, inhibition of inflammatory process, inhibition nucleation, Inhibition crystallization, inhibition crystal aggregation, reducing hyperoxaluria, reducing stone size and reducing urine supersaturation. According to this study, all of the cited common medicinal plants have antiurolithiatic phytochemical reveals. Investigation of Persian Medicine literatures can lead to the identification of effective natural medicines for the management of urolithiasis; however, conclusive confirmation of the efficacy and safety of these treatments needs more evaluations especially by future clinical trials. Key Words: Urinary Stone, Antiurolithiatic, Persian Medicine, Traditional Medicine, Medicinal Plant, Herbal Medicine