Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Epilepsy Behav. 2013 Oct;29(1):47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2013.06.023. Epub 2013 Aug 8.
The bidirectional comorbidity between epilepsy and depression is associated with severe challenges for treatment efficacy and safety, often resulting in poor prognosis and outcome for the patient. We showed previously that rats selectively bred for depression-like behaviors (SwLo rats) also have increased limbic seizure susceptibility compared with their depression-resistant counterparts (SwHi rats). In this study, we examined the therapeutic efficacy of voluntary exercise in our animal model of epilepsy and depression comorbidity. We found that chronic wheel running significantly increased both struggling duration in the forced swim test and latency to pilocarpine-induced limbic motor seizure in SwLo rats but not in SwHi rats. The antidepressant and anticonvulsant effects of exercise were associated with an increase in galanin mRNA specifically in the locus coeruleus of SwLo rats. These results demonstrate the beneficial effects of exercise in a rodent model of epilepsy and depression comorbidity and suggest a potential role for galanin.
癫痫和抑郁症之间的双向共病与治疗效果和安全性的严重挑战有关，这通常会导致患者预后不良。我们之前曾表明，与具有抗抑郁行为的大鼠（SwHi 大鼠）相比，选择性培育出具有抑郁样行为的大鼠（SwLo 大鼠）的边缘性癫痫易感性也增加了。在这项研究中，我们在癫痫和抑郁症共病的动物模型中检查了自愿运动的治疗效果。我们发现，慢性轮跑显著增加了 SwLo 大鼠而非 SwHi 大鼠在强迫游泳试验中的挣扎时间和毛果芸香碱诱导的边缘运动性癫痫发作的潜伏期。运动的抗抑郁和抗惊厥作用与蓝斑核中甘丙肽 mRNA 的增加有关，特别是在 SwLo 大鼠中。这些结果表明运动对癫痫和抑郁症共病的啮齿动物模型有有益的影响，并提示甘丙肽可能有一定作用。
