Objective: 

Enriched environment is reported to have a positive impact on brain function in epilepsy. Erythrocytes like brain may be vulnerable to oxidative stress induced by epilepsy. This is the first study aimed to investigate the effects of epilepsy induced by multiple injections of pentylenetetrazol and environmental enrichment on the rheological properties of erythrocytes.

Methods: 

Experimental procedures were approved by the Local Ethical Committee of Erciyes University. Rats were divided into four groups: (i) control (C), (ii) enriched environment (En), (iii) epileptic (Ep) and (iv) epileptic rats kept in enriched environment (Ep-En). Epilepsy was induced by intraperitoneal pentylenetetrazol injections every second day for 38 days. At the end of this period, elongation indexes for erythrocyte deformability, aggregation and % hemolysis for osmotic fragility were determined from blood samples.

Results: 

Elongation indices were found to be highest and equal in C and Ep-En rats; and lowest in En rats (p<0.05). % hemolysis were observed to be equal in En and Ep rats and then increasing respectively in Ep-En and C rats (p<0.05). Aggregation indices were measured to be equal in Ep and En rats and then decreasing respectively in C and Ep-En rats (p>0.05).

Conclusions: 

Decrease in the deformability and increase in the aggregation indices reflect a negative effect of the epileptic seizures on erythrocytes. We think that the changes observed in our study might be explained in the light of previous reports by the balance of oxidant-antioxidant systems in epilepsy and increased adrenocortical function in environmental enrichment. So it seems that environmental enrichment helps to improve the impairment in mechanical properties of erythrocytes in epilepsy.