Cytochrome oxidase was purified from bovine-heart mitochondria and its enzymatic properties were examined. The purified cytochrome oxidase was identified by its absorption spectrum and chromatogram through gel filtration. The specific activity, purification degree and yield of purified cytochrome oxidase were 18 nmol/mg/ml/min, 24.83 fold and 0.93%, respectively. The activity of the enzyme assayed by a ferrocytochrome $c-O_2$ system was optimized at $25^{circ}C$ and pH 6.5. Examining the effect of nonionic detergents established that cytochrome oxidase was deactivated by Triton X-100. The oxidase was activated by Tween 80 and deactivated by Tween 20. The Michaelis constant and maximum velocity of the oxidase for ferrocytochrome c were 0.032~0.044 mM and 0.019~0.021 mM/min, respectively. After adaption to basal diet for a week, experimental diets containing 6 mg Cu/kg, or zero mg Cu/kg, or 12 mg Cu/kg were fed to a control group, a copper-free group and a copper-rich group of Sprague-Dawley rats, respectively, for 4 weeks. The specific activities assayed for the ferrocytochrome $c-O_2$ system of isolated cytochrome oxidase from the rat liver of control, copper-free, and copper-rich group were 1.00, 1.19, and 0.878 nmol/mg/ml/min, respectively. Their degrees of purification were 11.38, 10.82 and 8.78 fold, respectively. The specific activities for liver and heart mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase of copper-free/copper-rich groups assayed using the ferrocytochrome $c-O_2$ system were 81.4% and 96.4%/64.1% and 61.1%, respectively, compared with those of the control.