3.2.3. Evaluation of Enzymatic Antioxidant Activities

Table 3 also shows the effects of olive leaf extracts on the antioxidant enzymes. It is noteworthy to say that CCl4 caused a significant increase in SOD, CAT and GPx activities (141 U/mg protein, 136 μmol of H2O2 destroyed/min per mg protein and 100 nmol of NADPH oxidized/min per mg protein, for SOD, CAT and GPx, respectively) when compared to the control group (89 U/mg protein, 109 U/mg protein and 83 U/mg protein, for SOD, CAT and GPx, respectively). Contrastingly, olive leaf extract administration caused a significant decrease in the activity of such enzymes when compared to CCl4-treated animals, resulting in levels close to those of the control group, especially for GPx activity (81 and 87 nmol of NADPH oxidized/min per mg protein, respectively, in comparison to the control rats with 83 nmol of NADPH oxidized/min per mg protein).
