Objective: To investigate the changes of microtubule-associated protein- 2 (MAP2) in epileptic dentate gyrus and the significance in epilepsy. Methods: Alterations in MAP2-immunoreactivity(MAP2-IR) in the kindling model of epilepsy were investigated in rats with survival times ranging from three to thirty days. Nissl staining and electron microscopic studies were also used to explore more deeply. Results: MAP2-IR was obviously enhanced in the dendrites of granule cells three days after kindling and remained enhanced up to fourteen days (P<0.01). It was returned to control patterns twenty to thirty days after kindling (P<0.01). Nissl staining demonstrated an exponential curve correlation between the enhancement of MAP-2 and degeneration of hilar neurons (R2=0.9362). Electron microscopic studies showed that microtubules of dendrite in the dentate molecule was increased three days after kindling and obviously increased fourteen days after kindling

but it was decreased thirty days later. Sprouting of dentate granule cell axons and synaptic contacts between nerve terminal and dendrite were discovered. Conclusion: It suggests that the overexpression of MAP-2 via the formation of microtubules may play an important role in the sprouting of mossy fibers in epileptic rats，and the extensive denervation of inhibitory cells by many damaged hilar neurons may trigger a process that leads to overexpression of MAP-2.