Part of the epithalamus, the habenula is a bilateral pair of small nuclei, lying just behind the pineal gland and just above the posterior commissure of the midbrain. The stria medullaris is the habenula’s principal afferent pathway, originating in the anterior hypothalamus and septal nuclei in the medial basal forebrain. The habenula’s principal efferents are to the interpeduncular nucleus of the midbrain via the fasciculus retroflexus pathway. The habenula and its circuitry are part of the limbic system.
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