Intrathecal application of the microglial inhibitor minocycline attenuates sympathoexcitatory and proarrhythmogenic changes in rats with chronic temporal lobe epilepsy

Highlights • Epilepsy-induced altered cardiovascular function, regulated by autonomic nervous system, is a major cause of death. • Chronic spontaneous seizures in rats produce profound proarrhythmogenic effects. • In epileptic rats, proarrhythmogenic and sympathoexcitatory effects are mediated by action of microglia at spinal cord. • Neither PACAP nor microglia regulate the major cardiovascular reflex responses in epileptic rats. • Modifying the microglial activity in epileptics might produce sympathoprotective and eventually cardioprotective effects.