Behavioral Hyperactivity and Psychiatric Symptoms Induced by Seizures

Psychiatric symptoms are common in temporal lobe epilepsy patients. The present article reviews the psychosis-relevant behaviors induced by seizures in a rat kindling model. An electrically induced afterdischarge (AD) in the hippocampus was followed by postictal hyperlocomotion and increased hippocampal gamma (30–100 Hz) waves. An AD in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) induced hyperlocomotion and local gamma waves only when the AD spread to the hippocampus. Loss of prepulse inhibition and auditory gating was found days after kindling of the hippocampus, mPFC and nucleus accumbens. Repeated convulsive seizures, dopamine D 2 antagonist, or GABA B receptor agonist could normalize the kindling-induced psychiatric symptoms.