Nestin is one kind of intermediate filament protein, which is considered as a typical marker of neural precursor cells. Considerable evidence supports nestin may have actively functions in neurogenesis and gliosis. Our aim was to investigate nestin expression in the temporal neocortex of patients with intractable epilepsy (IE), and then to discuss the possible role of nestin in IE. Tissue samples from the temporal neocortex of 32 patients who had surgery for IE were used to detect nestin expression by immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence. We compared these tissues with 12 histologically normal temporal neocortex from intracranial hypertension patients who had decompression procedures. In this study, we found some nestin positive cells in the normal temporal neocortex, but in the intractable epilepsy, they were upregulated, increasing with length of course and seizure frequency. Optical density (OD) value in epileptic tissue was determined 0.246 +/- 0.030, and 0.134 +/- 0.040 in the control (P < 0.05). Double lables of immunofluorescence showed some nestin positive cells coexpression with glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), while some coexpression with microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP(2)). These findings provided some evidence for increased neurogenesis and gliosis in epilepsy, which could be associated with intractable epilepsy.