Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Electroconvulsive Seizures in Rats and Fractionation of Their Hippocampi to Examine Seizure-induced Changes in Postsynaptic Density Proteins
Published on: August 15, 2017
Depression and epilepsy: do glucocorticoids and glutamate explain their relationship?
1Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. akanner@rush.edu
Abstract:
Depression is the most common psychiatric comorbidity in people with epilepsy, but it remains underrecognized and undertreated. In addition to its negative impact on quality of life, depressive disorders are predictive of a worse response to pharmacologic and surgical treatment of seizure disorders. This phenomenon is probably an expression of a bidirectional relationship between epilepsy and depression, which in turn is indicative of common pathogenic mechanisms that are operant in the two conditions. The abnormal role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is one of the common pathogenic mechanisms that explains why patients with depression are at greater risk for developing epilepsy and vice versa.
Related Concept Videos
Antiepileptic Drugs: Glutamate Antagonists
Epilepsy and Seizures: Overview
Various factors can trigger epilepsy, including genetic factors, brain damage, metabolic causes, and unknown etiology. Diagnosis of epilepsy involves electroencephalography (EEG), which...
Long-term Depression
Calcium Ion Concentration Mechanism
If over time, all...
Long-term Depression
Antiepileptic Drugs: GABAergic Pathway Potentiators
The key GABA pathway potentiators used in epilepsy management are as follows.
Benzodiazepines are a well-known class of drugs used for their...
Electroconvulsive Therapy

