Changes in lipid profile of rat plasma after chronic administration of Mallasindura (MSL) - an Ayurvedic metallic preparation Gulshanara Begum* 1 Department of Pharmacy, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka , Bangladesh. Kaiser Hamid 2 Department of Pharmacy, East west University, Dhaka , Bangladesh. MSK Choudhuri 3 Department of Pharmacy, Jahangir agar University, Savar, Dhaka , Bangladesh. Abstract: Mallasindura (MSL) which is a classical Ayurvedic preparation of arsenical products was studied to observe its toxicological effects. This Ayurvedic drug is used in the treatment of bronchial asthma. The changes in the lipid profile parameters of rat plasma were examined after chronic administration of this drug. The animal used were albino rats (Rattus novergicus: Sprague-Dawley strains) and the drug was administered per oral route at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight, once daily, up to 90 days for all the experiments. Forty rats, equally of both sexes, were randomly grouped into four where one male and one female group were used as control and other groups were used as test. In case of male rats, statistically a very highly significant decrease (p=0.001) in the triglyceride content in the plasma was noted. There was also a decrease in the total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and VLDL content (with p values of 0.682, 0.374, 0.796 and 0.328 respectively) of the plasma was observed. None of these values were statistically significant. In case of female rats, a similar declined trend was observed for triglycerides which was statistically very highly significant (p=0.001). And for total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and VLDL content in female rats, there was a similar trend like male rats with p values of (0.701, 0.395, 0.902 and 0.587 respectively) which were not statistically significant. Key words: Lipid profile, rat plasma, MSL, Ayurvedic preparation. INTRODUCTION: In recent years, Ayurveda (the life of science) as an alternative and complementary medicine is increasingly getting acknowledgement all over the world [8]. A branch of Ayurveda known as Rasa shastra (Vedic chemistry) is associated with the use of metals, gems, minerals and even poisons for manufacturing special formulations for treatment of chronic and complicated diseases [9]. Gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tin, iron and some of their alloys are usually used for the preparation of ayurvedic drugs. Mercury and sulphur are accounted for the conversion of these metals into Bhasma which is involved with metal extraction following the conversion of purified metal or its alloy into nontoxic form [10]. Literal meaning of Bhasma is ash, which involves different processing steps. The complete process is called Bhasmikarana which includes the sequential heating of metal with natural precursors (herbal juices, decoctions, and powders, etc) of medicinal importance [13]. Bhasmikarana converts the free metal into metal oxide or sulfide resulting an insoluble compound that has no or a little interaction with human tissues and body fluids. Thus mercury, gold, diamond, iron, and silver are transformed from their free state into potent medicines. They are usually very effective at low doses (few mg) [9]. Hence, the conversion of zero valent metal state to its higher oxidation state enables the complete elimination of the toxic nature of metal while incorporating the medicinal properties into it [16]. Mallasindura is a classical ayurvedic preparation (Table 1) which is used to treat bronchial asthma. It is a combination of rasa –mercury, ras karpura-mercurial compound, Bali – purified and processed sulphur and Malla-purified arsenic oxide with herbal juices [2]. Asthma is an inflammatory condition with recurrent reversible airways obstruction in response to irritant stimuli. These stimuli are too weak to affect non-asthmatic subjects. Symptoms of asthma include intermittent attacks of wheezing, shortness of breath with difficulty especially in breathing out and sometimes cough [4]. Heavy toxic metal such as mercury used in traditional medicine is presumed to act as a catalyst and can stimulate activity by their presence in the intestines. However, they do not reach the blood stream [6]. Arsenic is derived from a Greek word called Arsenikon which means ‘potent’. It is consumed as a poison as well as a therapeutic agent and it was explained as a metallic poison before 2000B.C. A transitional element or metalloid arsenic (atomic number 33, atomic wt. 75) has three different valance states: elemental arsenic with zero oxidation state, trivalent and pentavalent arsenic. It can form alloys with metals which can further reacts with carbon, oxygen and hydrogen through covalent bonds. It is commonly used in its trivalent and pentavalent state. The Gulshanara Begum et al /J. Pharm. Sci. & Res. Vol. 7(3), 2015, 123-126 123