Epilepsy is a chronic brain disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Anxiety-related disorders and cognitive deficits are common in patients with epilepsy. Previous studies have shown that maternal infection/immune activation renders children more vulnerable to neurological disorders later in life. Environmental enrichment has been suggested to improve seizures, anxiety, and cognitive impairment in animal models. The present study aimed to explore the effects of environmental enrichment on seizure scores, anxiety-like behavior, and cognitive deficits following maternal immune activation in offspring with epilepsy. Pregnant mice were treated with lipopolysaccharides-(LPS) or vehicle, and offspring were housed in normal or enriched environments during early adolescence to adulthood. To induce epilepsy, adult male and female offspring were treated with Pentylenetetrazol-(PTZ), and then anxiety-like behavior and cognitive functions were assessed. Tumor-necrosis-factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL) 10 were measured in the hippocampus of offspring. Maternal immune activation sex-dependently increased seizure scores in PTZ-treated offspring. Significant increases in anxiety-like behavior, cognitive impairment, and hippocampal TNF-α and IL-10 were also found following maternal immune activation in PTZ-treated offspring. However, there was no sex difference in these behavioral abnormalities in offspring. Environmental enrichment reversed the effects of maternal immune activation on behavioral and inflammatory parameters in PTZ-treated offspring. Overall, the present findings highlight the adverse effects of prenatal maternal immune activation on seizure susceptibility and psychiatric comorbidities in offspring. This study suggests that environmental enrichment may be used as a potential treatment approach for behavioral abnormalities following maternal immune activation in PTZ-treated offspring.

癫痫是一种慢性脑部疾病，影响着全世界数百万人。焦虑相关障碍和认知缺陷在癫痫患者中很常见。先前的研究表明，母体感染/免疫激活使儿童在以后的生活中更容易患上神经系统疾病。环境丰富已被建议改善动物模型中的癫痫发作、焦虑和认知障碍。本研究旨在探讨环境富集对癫痫后代的母体免疫激活后癫痫发作评分、焦虑样行为和认知缺陷的影响。怀孕的小鼠用脂多糖（LPS）或载体处理，后代在青春期早期到成年期被安置在正常或丰富的环境中。诱发癫痫，用戊四唑(PTZ)治疗成年雄性和雌性后代，然后评估焦虑样行为和认知功能。在后代的海马中测量肿瘤坏死因子 (TNF)-α 和白细胞介素 (IL) 10。在 PTZ 治疗的后代中，母体免疫激活性别依赖性地增加癫痫发作评分。在 PTZ 治疗的后代中，在母体免疫激活后，还发现焦虑样行为、认知障碍以及海马 TNF-α 和 IL-10 显着增加。然而，后代的这些行为异常没有性别差异。环境富集逆转了母体免疫激活对 PTZ 治疗后代的行为和炎症参数的影响。总体，目前的研究结果强调了产前母亲免疫激活对后代癫痫易感性和精神疾病的不利影响。该研究表明，环境富集可用作治疗 PTZ 处理的后代母体免疫激活后行为异常的潜在治疗方法。