Table 3.

Effects of the A. blazei extract treatment on the oxidation of NADH, succinate, and TMPD-ascorbate by disrupted brain mitochondria of old rats. The NADH oxidase, succinate oxidase, and oxidation of ascorbate mediated by TMPD were measured polarographically using freeze-thawing disrupted mitochondria as described in Materials and Methods. The values represent the mean ± standard errors of the mean.

Enzymatic activities	Experimental groups
	(1) Young rats	(2) Old rats	(3) A. blazei-treated old rats
nmol O2 min−1 mg protein−1
NADH oxidase	58.56 ± 2.19 (n = 6)	46.12 ± 4.84# (n = 6)	46.44 ± 4.77** (n = 7)
Succinate oxidase	38.12 ± 1.47 (n = 6)	31.50 ± 1.53# (n = 5)	32.27 ± 1.32 (n = 5)
TMPD-ascorbate oxidation	113.89 ± 5.75 (n = 4)	79.40 ± 3.03# (n = 5)	98.66 ± 6.25 (n = 5)

^# P < 0.05 for (2) versus (1) (ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc testing).

**P < 0.05 for (3) versus (1) ANOVA and Student-Newman-Keuls post hoc testing).