Abstract

Diallyl disulphide, the principle organosulphur compound of garlic oil, is known to possess many clinical beneficial effects, but its overuse or abuse has been reported to cause certain harmful side effects due to its possible metabolite acrolein. It was thought that the disulphide nature of diallyl disulphide is responsible for its hypolipidemic effect and the unsaturation may be for its toxic effects. Recently few synthetic disulphides are successfully employed in experimentally induced hyperlipidemia. The present study was under taken to compare the hypolipidemic as well as toxic effects of saturated disulphide, Dipropyl disulphide with Diallyl disulphide. The atherogenic diet fed male albino rats were given orally 100mg/kg body weight of disulphide (DADS or DPDS) for 60 days, later the rats were sacrificed and the plasma lipid profile, glycoproteins, calcium and transaminases were estimated. The aortic homogenates were employed for the estimation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and total sulphhydryl group. The results indicate a significant hypolipidemic effect with dipropyl disulphide with a comparative lower toxic side effect. It is concluded that DPDS is much safer and equally good hypolipidemic agent in experimentally induced hyperlipidemia in albino rats.