Epilepsy is a common and serious complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), giving rise to increased morbidity and mortality. It's difficult to identify patients at high risk of epilepsy and the application of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) following SAH is a controversial topic. Therefore, it's pressingly needed to gain a better understanding of the risk factors, underlying mechanisms and the optimization of therapeutic strategies for epilepsy after SAH. Neuroinflammation, characterized by microglial activation and the release of inflammatory cytokines, has drawn growing attention due to its influence on patients with epilepsy after SAH. In this review, we discuss the risk factors for epilepsy after SAH and emphasize the critical role of microglia. Then we discuss how various molecules arising from pathophysiological changes after SAH activate specific receptors such as TLR4, NLRP3, RAGE, P2X7R and initiate the downstream inflammatory pathways. Additionally, we focus on the significant responses implicated in epilepsy including neuronal excitotoxicity, the disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the change of immune responses. As the application of AEDs for seizure prophylaxis after SAH remains controversial, the regulation of neuroinflammation targeting the key pathological molecules could be a promising therapeutic method. While neuroinflammation appears to contribute to epilepsy after SAH, more comprehensive experiments on their relationships are needed.
Keywords: Epilepsy; Microglia; Neuroinflammation; Subarachnoid hemorrhage.