The bi-directional 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 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.

Agenesis of the corpus callosum is a rare congenital defect that has been linked to psychiatric disorders, cognitive deficits, learning disabilities, and developmental delays. We present the case of a patient with partial agenesis of the corpus callosum who exhibits depressed mood, transient loss of memory, and history of cognitive, social, and behavioral disturbances that developed during his childhood. Recent and pertinent literature was reviewed and the agenesis of the corpus callosum and its associated neuropsychiatric manifestations are discussed.

Although a strong co-morbidity exists clinically between epilepsy and depression, the cause of this co-morbidity remains unknown, and a valid animal model is crucial for the identification of underlying mechanisms and the development of a screening tool for novel therapies. Although some rodent models of epilepsy have been reported to display behaviors relevant to affective disorders, the seizure susceptibility of animals prone to depression-like behavior has not been characterized. Toward this end, we assessed several forms of seizure sensitivity and epileptogenesis in rats selectively bred for vulnerability (Swim Lo-Active; SwLo) or resilience (Swim High-Active; SwHi) to depression-like phenotypes. The SwLo rats exhibit decreased motor activity in a swim test and other depression-like phenotypes, whereas the SwHi rats display increased motor activity in a swim test. SwLo rats exhibited a decreased latency to limbic motor seizures following acute pilocarpine administration in the absence of differences in pilocarpine pharmacokinetics, and also had a decreased threshold to tonic seizures induced by electroshock. Approximately half of the SwLo rats, but none of the SwHi rats, had spontaneous limbic motor seizures 5 weeks following pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus. While the number of stimulations required to achieve full amygdala and hippocampal electrical kindling were similar in the two rat lines, SwLo rats had a lower final hippocampal kindling threshold and more wet dog shakes during both amygdala and hippocampal kindling. Combined, these results indicate that SwLo rats are a model of epilepsy and depression co-morbidity that can be used for investigating underlying neurobiological and genetic mechanisms and screening novel therapeutics.

Coprophagia is a rare and distressing disorder characterized by symptoms of compulsive consumption of feces. Several attempts have been made in literature to explore the pathophysiology, management, and outcomes of this disorder. However, critical questions remain, related to characterizing effective management, features of associated comorbidities, time to recovery of symptoms, sustainability of recovery, and the determinants of outcomes. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of available literature addressing these questions. We present two cases of patients with coprophagia in seeking to address these questions. Common symptoms of thought content disorder related to coprophagic behavior are noted in both cases. A shorter time to resolution of coprophagia is noted in one of the patients compared to previously reported studies. Recent and pertinent literature was reviewed and the implications for diagnosis and management of coprophagia are discussed.

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