Eight female Sprague-Davvley rats with vveights ranging from 230 to 310 g were used to perform a rat model of spinal cord injury by the dip compression. After application of an aneurysm dip for 30 seconds in group 1 and 60 seconds in group 2, we determined superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase (CAT) activities at 24. hours following trauma. Each segment was compared with the same segment of the other group (lesion with lesion, rostral with rostral andcaudal with caudal). The enzymes' activity changes were not sta-tistically significant. This lack of response of the enzymes to the increased severity of trauma may explain a part of the secondary damage due to oxygen free radicals in traumatic injury.
Keywords: Experimental spinal cord injury, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, catalase