Gallstones-dissolving capacity of lemon (Citrus limon) juice, Herniaria hirsuta L. extract and lemon juice-based natural vinaigrette in vitro

Abstract

This paper presents the investigation of the gallstones-dissolving capacity (GDC) of lemon (Citrus limon) juice (LJ), Herniaria hirsuta L. aqueous extract and olive oil/LJ natural vinaigrette (NV) in vitro, for the first time. To start with, the gallstones from an Algerian female patient were characterized in terms of both their chemical composition by UV-VIS spectroscopy and thermal analysis. Then, the GDC was evaluated throughout the reduction of weight of different gallstones which were immersed in different investigated liquid media over the time. It was found that the investigated gallstones are composed of bilirubin and cholesterol. Primarily, the results revealed that the GDC of NV reached 100 % after 7 days immersion, while it reached 72, 26, 6 % after 13 days immersion for HHE, LJ and LJ/HHE mixture, respectively. These results shed light on interesting perspectives for NV applications: 1) as functional food to replace the commercial vinegar-based dressings, knowing that the alternate consumption of olive oil and lemon juice to promote the gallbladder flush is widely popularized, and 2) as a promising alternative to conventional solvents used in the treatment of gallstones by contact litholysis. However, additional studies are needed to improve the stability and bioavailability of the NV.