Epilepsy is a complex neurological disorder with frequent psychiatric, cognitive, and social comorbidities in addition to recurrent seizures. Cognitive impairment, one of the most common comorbidities, has severe adverse effects on quality of life. Chronic intermittent hypobaric hypoxia (CIHH) has demonstrated neuroprotective efficacy in several neurological disease models. In the present study, we examined the effects of CIHH on cognition and hippocampal function in chronic epileptic rats. CIHH treatment rescued deficits in spatial and object memory, hippocampal neurogenesis, and synaptic plasticity in pilocarpine-treated epileptic rats. The Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been implicated in neural stem cell proliferation and synapse development, and Wnt/β-catenin pathway inhibition effectively blocked the neurogenic effects of CIHH. Our findings indicate that CIHH rescues cognitive deficits in epileptic rats via Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation. This study establishes CIHH and Wnt/β-catenin pathway regulators as potential treatments for epilepsy- induced cognitive impairments.

癫痫病是一种复杂的神经系统疾病，除了反复发作外，还经常发生精神病，认知和社会合并症。认知障碍是最常见的合并症之一，对生活质量有严重的不利影响。慢性间歇性低压缺氧（CIHH）在几种神经系统疾病模型中均显示出神经保护作用。在本研究中，我们检查了CIHH对慢性癫痫大鼠认知和海马功能的影响。CIHH治疗挽救了毛果芸香碱治疗的癫痫大鼠的空间和对象记忆，海马神经发生和突触可塑性的缺陷。Wnt /β-catenin途径与神经干细胞增殖和突触的发展有关，而Wnt /β-catenin途径的抑制有效地阻断了CIHH的神经源性作用。通过Wnt /β-catenin途径激活。这项研究建立了CIHH和Wnt /β-catenin途径调节剂作为癫痫诱发的认知障碍的潜在治疗方法。