Herbal remedies used for the management of urolithiasis in Abbottabad, Northern Pakistan

The current study was performed to evaluate the ethnobotanical uses of medicinal plants to treat and prevent kidney diseases, especially urolithiasis in the Abbottabad region, Northern Pakistan. Field surveys were conducted from 2014–2016 in various rural and tribally dwelled hilly areas like Ayubia National Park, Sherwan and Thandiani. Ethnobotanical information about the medicinal plants employed to treat urinary ailments was obtained from well-informed sources like local healers (hakims) and residents (men/women), who had vast knowledge of local plants uses. The questionnaire method was adopted to record the information and queries were made to verify the information. Informed consent was obtained from each informant before conducting the interview process. Quantitative ethnobotanical indices were calculated for each recorded species. Correlation analysis between the RFC, UV and FL% was tested by Pearson’s correlation, SPSS (ver. 16). A total of 38 plant species belonging to 27 families were being used in the study area to treat Urolithiasis or kidney stone diseases. Asteraceae was the most dominant family with 5 species. Local people used different methods of preparation for different plant parts; among them, decoction was the popular and dominant way of preparation (52.6%), followed by powder (18.4%), extracts (15.7%), juice (7.8%) and cooked (5.2%). The highest UV was recorded for Rumex acetosa L. (1.14) followed by Agrimonia eupatoria L. (1.1), Equisetum ramosissimum Desf. (1.05), Aerva lanata L. (1.04), Eclipta alba Hassak. (1.03). Moreover, twenty-three species were recoded with above 50% Fidelity level. It was found that most of the plant species (16 species) were explicitly used to remove kidney stones. All the obtained data about the ethnomedicinal uses of plants to treat urinary tract ailments are alphabetically categorized to their botanical name/family, local name, phytoconstituents, dosage and route of administration, along with quantitative indices value. All the collected ethnomedicinal plants require a thorough scientific investigation for isolation, identification, biochemical assays, toxicities and evaluation of pharmacological activities of the phytoconstituents, especially of the plants recorded with a high-fidelity level before their usage in clinics.