Objective      To investigate the role of E3 ubiquitin ligase FBXL20 in the epileptogenesis through detecting the expression level of FBXL20 and its downstream regulating synaptic membrane exocytosis 1 (RIM1) in brain tissue of temporal lobe epilepsy patients and pilocarpine-induced rat model.       Methods      Epilepsy focus resected from temporal lobe epilepsy patients was taken as the epilepsy group (n=25)

and the cortex resected from brain trauma patients was taken as the control group (n=10). Forty male

healthy SD rats were injected with pilocarpine (127 mg/kg). The rats with spontaneous seizures in 2 weeks later were selected into the epilepsy model group

while those without spontaneous seizures until 2 months later were selected into the control group. FBXL20 and RIM1 in the human brain cortex and rat cortex and hippocampus were detected by immunofluorescence staining

Western blotting and immunohistochemistry assay.       Results      Immunofluorescence staining showed that FBXL20 mainly located in the neurons. Immunohistochemistry assay and Western blotting showed that the expression of FBXL20 was down-regulated in the epilepsy group (P0.05). Western blotting indicated that expression of RIM1 was up-regulated in the epilepsy group (P0.05).       Conclusion      Altered expression of FBXL20 indicates that FBXL20 may be involved in the epileptogenesis.