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Advances in magnetic resonance imaging of the habenula in depression
HOU Lin  BIAN Bingyang  ZHANG Huimao  ZHANG Lei 

Cite this article as: HOU L, BIAN B Y, ZHANG H M, et al. Advances in magnetic resonance imaging of the habenula in depression[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(3): 104-108, 137. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.03.017.


[Abstract] The habenula (Hb) is a pair of small grey nuclei located in the deep part of the brain, which plays a key role in emotion regulation as an important hub connecting the limbic forebrain and the midbrain, and overexcitability of this nucleus has been proved to be closely related to the onset of depression. The continuous development of MRI technology and its deep integration with artificial intelligence have not only deepened people's understanding of the involvement of the Hb in the pathogenesis of depression, but also helped to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of depression. In this paper, we provide a concise overview of the MRI, segmentation and imaging changes of the Hb in depression, discuss the challenges of current research, and provide new ideas for early diagnosis and personalized treatment strategies for depression.
[Keywords] habenula；depression；magnetic resonance imaging；image processing；deep learning

HOU Lin   BIAN Bingyang   ZHANG Huimao   ZHANG Lei*  

Department of Radiology, the First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China

Corresponding author: ZHANG L, E-mail: zlei99@jlu.edu.cn

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2024-11-30
Accepted  2025-03-10
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.03.017
Cite this article as: HOU L, BIAN B Y, ZHANG H M, et al. Advances in magnetic resonance imaging of the habenula in depression[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(3): 104-108, 137. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.03.017.

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