Abstract

Heterocyclic thiosemicarbazones, thioureas and their copper, nickel, and cobalt complexes were shown to be potent hypolipidemic agents in male Sprague Dawley rats at 8 mg/kg/day, orally. These agents lowered the activity of rat hepatic rate limiting enzymes for the synthesis of cholesterol and triglycerides. The effects of these agnets on cytoplasmic ATP-dependent citrate lyase, acetyl CoA synthetase and HMG-CoA reductase activities were reduced by a magnitude to explain the reduction of serum cholesterol levels afforded by the compounds. The reduction of acetyl CoA carboxylase, sn-glycerol-3-phosphate synthetase and phosphotidylate phosphohydrolase activities caused by the derivatives is of sufficient magnitude to explain the observed reduction in serum triglycerides after administration of the agents.