Abstract. The redox potential of goat serum was assessed by
different spectrophotometric assays. Among them, three methods are commonly
applied for the evaluation of the oxidative (reactive oxygen metabolites,
ROMs, and total oxidant status, TOS) and nitrosative (NO⚫ metabolites, NOx) stress, and four methods for the evaluation of the
antioxidant status: the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) based on the ferric
reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), the total antioxidant activity (TAA)
based on the reduction of the coloured ABTS⚫+ radical cation,
the free radical scavenging activity (FRSA) based on the reduction of the
purple DPPH⚫, and the total thiol levels (TTLs) based on their
interaction with DTNB to form a highly coloured anion. Besides,
myeloperoxidase (MPO) and ceruloplasmin oxidase (CP) activities were also
assessed. Except for TAA, analytical data showed a great inter-individual variation
for both oxidant and antioxidant assays. ROMs were strongly correlated with CP, while TOS with MPO and TAC. Furthermore, a tendency between TOS and FRSA was
shown. NOx was correlated with TAC and TAA, and a tendency with TOS was
shown. No correlations appeared among the antioxidant assays, even if a
tendency between TAC and TAA was evidenced, but TAC was correlated with MPO
activity. The observed correlation between ROMs and CP is discussed as a
possible analytical interference. The absence of correlation among the antioxidant biomarkers suggests the
simultaneous use of a panel of tests to verify any changes in the redox
balance, mainly in livestock in which reference values for each biomarker
are lacking.