ANTIOXIDANT PARAMETERS AND AGING IN SOME ANIMAL SPECIES

Connection between ageing and some tissue antioxidant parameters have been studied in four experiments on different animal species. Prenatal studies on the developing chick embryos showed discrepancies between the lipid-rich liver and brain antioxidant defence. In the liver, high levels of reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamins A and E and high activi ties of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and super oxide dismutase (SOD) were found whereas brain expressed a high vitami n C concentration. In newborn healthy calves during the first two days of life, atmospheric oxygen tension did not cause either increased li pid peroxidation as reflected in a high malondialdehyde (MDA) level or any changes in GSH, GPX, SOD and catalase (CAT) activities in red blo od cells (RBC). Plasma vitamin E and carotene concentrations also did not change. In growing healthy calves during two months after birth in creasing MDA, decreasing GSH, GPX and CAT are leading features, wherea s plasma vitamin E and carotene concentrations significantly increased . In young (1-year-old) and old (9-year-old) dogs RBC results showed s ignificant differences with the highest MDA and lowest GSH levels in t he old males. Activity of GPX and SOD was higher in old dogs than in t he young ones, especially in the females.