Effects of age and turpentine-induced inflammation on the activity of ceruloplasmin from blood of CFY rats

The activity of ceruloplasmin (CP) increased 3-fold in rat blood between 1 week and 20 months of age, but the difference in CP activity of adult and old rats was only 14%, which still is statistically significant (p less than 0.01). The increase in NaCl and KCl concentrations in vitro resulted in the same exponential decrease in activities of CP from both young and old animals. Turpentine-induced inflammation caused an increase in blood CP levels in both young (52%) and old (25%) animals compared to age-matched controls (p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.01, respectively). These results indicate that the antioxidant activity of CP is maintained as a function of age in rat blood, which is beneficial for preventing the increase in lipid peroxidation.