The lateral habenula in depression: a mini-review
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Neuroscience, Cognitive Disorders, Psychiatry and Psychology
- Keywords
- habenula, depression, neuropsychiatry, lateral habenula, major depressive disorder
- Copyright
- © 2019 Street
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2019. The lateral habenula in depression: a mini-review. PeerJ Preprints 7:e27659v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27659v1
Abstract
Although much remains unknown about this once-obscure structure, the lateral habenula is receiving increasing attention as a component of the circuitry of many conditions including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, pain disorders, substance use disorders, psychosis spectrum disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. In depression research, there is growing interest in this structure as a component of the brain’s “anti-reward system”, since it can inhibit the release of monoamines into regions involved in the expectation, pursuit, and receival of rewards. This mini-review covers the basics of lateral habenula structure and function, and discusses recent advances made in understanding habenular dysfunction in depression.
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.