EFFECT OF SESBANIA GRANDIFLORA (AGATHI) ON LIPID METABOLISM IN CIGARETTE SMOKE INDUCED RATS. S. Bhuvana, T. Ramesh and V.Hazeena Begum Department of Siddha Medicine, Faculty of Science, Tamil University, Thanjavur. Abstract To evaluate the effect of Sesbania grandiflora on experimental animals exposed to cigerette smoke.Sesbania grandiflora was administered orally to male albino rats at a dosage of 100 mg/100gm b.wt., two days / week b.d., to study the effect of Sesbania grandiflora in cigarette smoke exposed animals. The animals were exposed to cegerette smoke for 75 days. At the end of 75 th day the animals were treated with the drug for two weeks and were sacrificed, serum was separated and were used to analyse the biochemical parameters such as total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipds, HDL, LDL,VLDL along with the MDA levels in various tissues. Animals exposed to cigarette smoke for 75 days, resulted in the elevated levels of cholesterol, triglycerids, phospholipds, LDL and VLDL while reduced level of HDL in serum. The levels of MDA was found to be significantly increased in tissues of the experimental rats after smoke exposure. The above changes were prevented by Sesbania grandiflora. Administration of Sesbania grandiflora may alter the cigarette smoke induced lipid disorder in rats. Key Words : Cigarette smoking, Lipid metabolism, MDA, Sesbania grandiflora Introduction Cigaratte smoke is one of the major risk factors for coronary heart disease and lung cancer (1,2) . A number of studies indicate close association between cigarette smoke and development of arterial lesions (3-6) . Cigarette smoke is the known source of oxidants (7) , involved in the pathogenesis of lungs and vascular system (8) . Increased levels of serum cholesterol, phospholipid and Triglycerides and decreased levels of serum HDL cholesterol associated with cigarette smoking have also been reported by several workers (9-13) . A recent study with rats indicate that prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke, decreased HDL cholesterol 6