Studies on the effect of phyllanthus emblica extract on the growth of urinary type struvite crystals invitro

Abstract

Abstract Background Struvite also called as infection stones occur in the urinary system of humans particularly the women community. The present work was aimed to grow struvite crystals in-vitro using single diffusion gel growth technique and to understand the effect of phyllanthus emblica on its growth. Methods Sodium metasilicate gel of density 1.03 g/cc was used as the medium for growing the struvite crystals; The phyllanthus emblica extract of 5 % M/V concentration was used to understand its effect on struvite crystal crystal nucleation and growth. The well grown crystal samples were characterized by powder XRD, FTIR, UV–vis, Microhardness, SEM and Thermal analysis. Results The grown struvite crystals had dendritic morphology in both the control and phyllanthus emblica extract added systems. However, it was observed that the nucleation was controlled in the phyllanthus emblica added system when compared to the control system. Conclusions The result showed that phyllanthus emblica reduces nucleation of struvite crystals.