METHOD: Thirty-one rats were randomly divided into the five following groups: control group, MP group, Vit E group, MP+Vit E group and sham operated group. A spinal cord injury was produced in the rats by using a compression injury model at the T8 vertebra level for 10 minutes. MP was injected as a 30 mg/kg IV bolus, 1 hour after the injury, followed by an infusion of 5.4 mg/kg for 23 hours. Vit E was administered as a 30 mg/kg IV bolus at the posttraumatic 1st, 7th , 13th and 19th hours. The sham group underwent laminectomy without spinal cord compression and did not receive medication. The animals were sacrificed at the posttraumatic 48th hour and histopathological examination was performed in a blinded fashion for the following criteria: hemorrhage, necrosis, edema, microcyst, microglia proliferation and PMNL infiltration.

RESULTS: The pathology evaluation of the groups revealed that the MP+Vit E combination treatment impeded the progress of edema/microcyst formation, microglia proliferation, and necrosis.

CONCLUSION: Vit E, when combined with MP for spinal cord injury treatment, augments the effect of MP probably due to its antioxidant effects. Keywords : Lipid peroxidation, Methylprednisolone, Spinal cord injury, Vitamin E