Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder defined by social and communication impairments and stereotyped pattern of behavior. The underlying etiology of autism is unknown. It is suggested that autism may result from an interaction between genetic, environmental, and immunological factors, with oxidative stress as a mechanism linking these risk factors. We investigated the activity of the whole blood glutathione peroxidase (GPx), erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), and plasma paraoxonase1 (PON1) in 40 autistic and 36 healthy children, age and sex matched. We observed that the GPx activity is normal, SOD activity is significantly decreased only in "atypical autism" and PON1 paraoxonase activity is significantly decreased both in typical and atypical autism.