Objective: To investigate the inhibitory effect of methanol extract of Alpinia purpurata leaves on the growth of struvite crystals. Methods: Struvite crystals were grown by the single diffusion gel growth technique and the inhibitory effect of methanol extracts of Alpinia purpurata leaves on the growth of struvite crystals has been studied. The grown crystals were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Powder X-Ray diffraction (XRD) methods for further confirmations.
Results: With an increase in the concentration of methanol extract of Alpinia purpurata leaves, the weight of the formed crystals were gradually reduced from 2.93 g to 0.74 g in struvite crystals, respectively. The crystals are harvested from the struvite were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) to confirm the functional groups and Powder X-Ray Diffraction technique (XRD) analysis to confirm the crystalline phases of the struvite crystals. Results obtained are indicated that Alpinia purpurata leaves have the potential to inhibit the formation of struvite crystals.
Conclusion: This study confirms that using methanol extract of leaves of Alpinia purpurata can promote the formation of ammonium magnesium phosphate hexahydrate crystals and reduce the nucleation rate of struvite crystals, a major component of triple phosphate urinary stone.
