Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a focal epilepsy often refractory to anti-epileptic medications. Hippocampal sclerosis and lesions in the temporal cortex are associated to mesial TLE and neocortical TLE, respectively. In both cases, histopathological alterations in other areas have been reported. Here, we investigated the possible correlation between lesioned location and severity of the epileptic syndrome.Status epilepticus (SE) was induced by pilocarpine injection in Sprague-Dawley rats and was terminated 30 minutes later by ketamine/diazepam. Two weeks later, rats were implanted with depth and epidural electrodes and video-electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Severity of the epileptic syndrome was established based on seizure frequency and behavioral severity score for each rat. Brain, collected for the histopathological examinations at week 5-17 post-SE, were coronal sectioned and stained according to the Nissl procedure. The analysis were performed in the hippocampal formation, cortical regions and thalamus. Experiments were performed in accordance to EU Directive 2010/63 and authorized by the Italian Ministry of Health.The histological evaluation of neural tissue of epileptic and non-epileptic rats revealed differences in thickness and cell density variably in the hippocampal CA fields and in cortical areas. We also found ventricles enlargements and hippocampal shrink. Interestingly, some epileptic animals showed impairments of thalamic nuclei with symmetric appearance, mainly in the mediodorsal area.These results provide a basic anatomical overview to map the brain lesions over TLE severity. Finally, we speculate that alterations of specific brain regions may be fateful in the generalization of partial seizures to cortical areas.