INDICATORS OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY IN HORSES INFECTED WITH EQUINE ANEMIA VIRUS

Abstract

Assessing the activity of the main antioxidant en zymes - superoxid-dismutase (SOD), cathalase and the general peroxidaze activity - in parallel with the lipidic oxidative level and the concentration of the total blood lipids, the goal w as to establish the presence or the absence of the oxidative stress at cellular level, because of the viral infe ction in the affected animals. Blood samples were c ollected from the investigated horses (n=16) to assess the a ctivity of the cathalase, peroxidase and superoxid-dismutase. T hese were compared with the l ipidic oxidative level and the concentration of the total blood lipids. Based on t he obtained results it can be sustained that the enzymatic activity of- superoxid-dismutase (SOD) markedly decreases in the animals with anemia compared to the healthy ones, while the cathalase a ctivity decreses in the limits of normality in thes e animals. The decrease of the antioxidant enzyme lev el leads to the increase of the superoxide anion ra dicals and of the hydrogen peroxide (SRO) respectively of the products resulted trough the oxidative degradat ion of the lipids, proteins and nucleic acids in the an alyzed pathological samples, leading to a persisten t pro- oxidant state, at cellular level, promoting the set tling of the oxidative stress. The changes of the o xidative metabolism are able to induce changes in the immune reactivity, reducing the in vitro blast transformi ng activity and the mytogenic response, activity that could be reset using antioxidant vegetal extracts.