D-003 is a natural mixture of long chain aliphatic acids isolated and purified from sugar cane wax. It possesses antiplatelet and antithrombotic effects as well as decreases plasma and serum levels of thromboxane B 2 (TxB 2 ), meanwhile significantly and markedly raises prostacyclin (PgI 2 ) levels in rats. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of D-003 on spinal cord injury in rabbits. New Zealand rabbits were treated during 10 days with D-003 (25 and 200mgkg - 1 ) and ASA (2mgkg - 1 ) before spinal cord ischemia. Animals were subjected to 20min of aortic occlusion and 24h of reperfusion. Clinical symptoms and histopathological changes of spinal cord were observed.The PgI 2 levels in thoracic aorta were quantified by bioassay. D-003 (25 and 200mgkg - 1 ) significantly increased the mean scores reached 4h after reperfusion, although no dose relation was observed. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, no deaths occurred in both sham and D-003 treated groups, meanwhile in positive controls and ASA the mortality rate was 38.5% and 7.69% respectively. In addition, 100% of sham, 69% and 77% of rabbits treated with D-003 at 25 and 200mgkg - 1 , respectively, did not show histopathological changes. By the contrary, 100% of positive control animals showed severe damage and ASA-treated rabbits showed only a partial protection. Animals treated with both doses of D-003 showed PgI 2 levels significantly larger than those of positive and negative controls, an effect dose-related, while ASA 2mgkg - 1 did not change PgI 2 values. The increase of PgI 2 levels achieved in the D-003 treated animals could be an important mechanism in the protection against the spinal cord ischemia.