In this present, we found that POD and SOD
in chitosan coating fruits had consistently higher activities than
those of controls or glucose. These facts together with the evidence
in our work suggested that chitosan could induce activities
of some antioxidant enzymes such as POD, SOD, thereby promoting
tissue protection and delaying senescence. In addition, in the experiment,
the chitosan–glucose complex coating treatment showed
significantly higher POD and SOD activities as compared to chitosan/
glucose alone. The reason was probably that CGC possessing
superior hydrogen donating ability has the potential to react with
the oxyradicals. Our results were in agreement with those of Kanatt
et al. (2008), who found that chitosan–glucose complex had more
superior antioxidant activity, as manifested by high DPPH and
superoxide radical scavenging activities, when compared to chitosan
and glucose alone.