The blood brain barrier and the temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction has been shown to play an important role in epileptogenesis. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common type of partial complex seizure in adulthood. The main features of TLE are: (a) the localization of seizure foci, particularly in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and amygdala; (b) the frequent finding of an «initial precipitating injury» that precedes the appearance of TLE; (c) a seizure-free time interval following the precipitating injury known as «latent period»; and (d) a high incidence of mesial or Cornu Ammonis (CA) sclerosis, i.e., an unilateral hippocampal lesion leading to atrophy, typically caused by neuronal loss and gliosis in the subiculum-CA1 transition zone and the dentate hilus. It is not known how the BBB integrity changes during epileptogenesis and whether alterations in BBB permeability can contribute to spontaneous seizure progression. To determine BBB permeability in the pilocarpine model of TLE the Evans Blue (EB) was used as a macroscopically tracer experiments of albumin extravasation. Also we have been evaluated the reactive gliosis by mean of the expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) after different time points of status epilepticus (SE). In the present review, we provide an overview about the function of the BBB in epilepsy and the potential role reactive gliosis may play in the pathophysiology of epilepsy.