Latest Habenula Stories

The lateral habenula is hyperactive in rat models of human depressionA team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and UC San Diego (UCSD) has collected evidence suggesting that a previously overlooked portion of the brain could be a prime locus of human depression.In two rat models of human depression, the scientists have demonstrated that neurons in a tiny area in the central brain called the lateral habenula (LHb) are...

Identification of cellular mechanism may lead to novel and effective treatmentsScientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified hyperactive cells in a tiny brain structure that may play an important role in depression. The study, conducted in rats and appearing in the February 24, 2011, issue of Nature, is helping to reveal a cellular mechanism for...

Experts at the Scripps Research Institute campus in Florida have found a genetic mechanism that controls nicotine addiction in the brain--a discovery which could open the door for more effective smoking cessation aids.Lead researcher Paul Kenny, an associate professor with Scripps Research, and colleagues analyzed protein molecules known as nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, or nAChRs. Specifically, they were looking at nAChRs that contained a specific subunit, α5, in order to determine...

Breakthrough sheds light on poorly understood region of the brain1. Scientists from the Agency of Science, Technology and Research/Duke-NUS Neuroscience Research Partnership (A*STAR/Duke-NUS NRP), A*STAR's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, and the National University of Singapore have made a breakthrough concerning how anxiety is regulated in the vertebrate brain. Their work, published in the journal Current Biology, sheds light on how the brain normally shuts off anxiety and also...

Neurosurgeons in Heidelberg perform the world's first operation on the "habenula" to treat depression / Cooperation with psychiatrists from the Central Institute of Mental Health in MannheimA team of neurosurgeons at Heidelberg University Hospital and psychiatrists at the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim have for the first time successfully treated a patient suffering from severe depression by stimulating the habenula, a tiny nerve structure in the brain. The 64-year-old woman,...