Studies on the effects of turpentine powder on the serum concentration of lipids and lipoproteins of male rabbits

In this study the effects of turpentine powder on the concentration of lipids and lipoproteins of rabbits (as an animal model for human studies) were studied. 30 healthy male rabbits were chosen and then randomly allocated into 6 groups. Different percents of turpentine powder (10% and 100%) and oil compounds like vegetable oil, cholesterol and animal oil were given to each group (5 rabbits each) separately. Blood serum lipid and lipoprotein levels were analysed using routine laboratory methods. Treatment with 10% and 100% turpentine powder had a significant decreasing effect on triglycerides, cholesterol, total lipid, VLDL- cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol (p<0.05) and a significantly increasing effect on HDL- cholesterol (p<0.05). Treatment with 10% vegetable oil had a significantly increasing effect on triglyceride, cholesterol and lipoproteins (LDL, VLDL and HDL) (p<0.05). Following treatment with 10% animal oil, the concentrations of HDL-cholesterol and total lipid decreased significantly (p<0. 05). After treatment with 1% cholesterol, the concentrations of triglycerides, HDL- cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol significantly decreased (p<0.05), whereas, the concentration of cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol significantly increased (p<0.05). Treatment with turpentine powder has a significantly decreasing effect on the levels of serum lipids and lipoproteins (VLDL-cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol).