Due to side effects of chemical drugs, some people again turned to traditional medicine in recent years. One of medicinal plants is Carthamous tinctorius L (safflower) which is used as a relatively cheap dye for making sweets and cooking in addition to its therapeutic effects. Antioxidants are enzymes from body defense systems that play an important role against free radicals. In this study, the effects of safflower flower on serum activity of three important antioxidant enzymes (catalasand glutathion peroxidas) in sixty male wistar rats were studied. These rats randomly were divided into four groups including experimental 1, 2, and 3and also the control group. They were kept in standard cages with equal parts of water, light, temperature and food. The extract of safflower in concentrations of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg BW respectively were subcutaneously injected to rats of experimental groups 1, 2 and 3 in two periods of 14 and 28 days and blood samples were taken from their hearts and the catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activity were carried out on their serum with spectrophotometry method by Zell Bayou kits. The data was analized using t-test and ANOVA, Tukey's and T tests. No significant difference wes observed among activity of catalase and glutathione peroxidase in controle group in comparision to experimental groups at 14th and 28th of study (p>0.05).

Background and aim: Heavy metals such as lead have negative effects on different tissues of the body. The aim of this study was to evaluate the aqueous-ethanolic extract of parsley leaves (Petroselinum crispum) on the antioxidant content of glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and the expression of the Bak gene as an active gene in the apoptosis pathway in the liver tissue of adult male rats.
Materials and Methods: Rats were randomly divided into 6 groups of 10 including control, Sham, experimental1 (20 mg/kg lead acetate), experimental2 (200 mg/kg extract), experimental3 (20 mg/kg lead acetate and 100 mg/kg extract) and experimental4 (20 mg/kg lead acetate and 200 mg/kg extract) were divided. The length of the study period in all groups was 21 days. At the end of the study, blood samples were taken to measure GSH and GPX and liver tissue samples were taken to evaluate Bak gene by real time-PCR method.
Results: Lead acetate decreased the antioxidant content of GSH and GPX in rats and in contrast increased the expression of Bak gene. Administering aqueous-ethanolic extract of parsley leaves in rats treated with lead acetate, increased the antioxidant content of GSH and GPX and decreased Bak gene expression.
Conclusion: Lead acetate has negative effects on liver tissue by reducing the antioxidant content and increasing the expression of apoptosis genes. However, it seems that the aqueous-ethanolic extract of parsley leaves with antioxidant effects can counteract the harmful effects of lead acetate and improve the antioxidant content and modulate the genes involved in the apoptosis of rat liver tissue.