The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology

Table of Contents - August 2012 - Volume 15, Issue 07  

Research Article

Pilocarpine-induced temporal lobe epilepsy in the rat is associated with increased dopamine neuron activity

Pierangelo Cifellia1 and Anthony A. Gracea1 c1

a1 Departments of Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Abstract

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is defined as the occurrence of spontaneous seizures that involve the limbic system, with the hippocampal formation and associated structures being central to the most prevalent refractory form of adult focal epilepsy. TLE is often associated with psychotic features resembling the hallucinations and delusions that occur with schizophrenia. Given evidence that the ventral hippocampus plays an important role in the maintenance of temporal lobe seizures, we investigated whether an animal model of TLE using intrahippocampal injection of pilocarpine induces alterations in mesolimbic dopamine neuron activity. We found that in 60% of rats in which pilocarpine induced seizure activity, there was a significant increase in the number of dopamine neurons firing per electrode track. Furthermore, this occurred in concert with an increase in amphetamine-stimulated locomotor activity. Both observations are similar to those observed in a rodent developmental model of psychosis. Therefore, as in animal models of schizophrenia, TLE-associated psychosis is probably due to abnormal hippocampal overdrive of dopamine neuron activity.

(Received March 03 2011)

(Reviewed April 04 2011)

(Revised June 10 2011)

(Accepted June 14 2011)

(Online publication July 12 2011)

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Correspondence:

c1 Address for correspondence: Professor A. A. Grace, Department of Neuroscience, A210 Langley Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. Tel.: (412) 624 4609 Fax: (412) 624 9198 Email: Graceaa@pitt.edu

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