[The contribution of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis of depression].

Depression is an important and common disease, yet only recently, techniques of nuclear medicine like positron emission tomography and single photon emission tomography along with functional magnetic resonance imaging have greatly contributed to the diagnosis, follow up and research of depression. In the present article we describe and discuss briefly the sites of the brain related to depression as these sites have been studied by nuclear medicine techniques. We especially refer to the role of hippocampus, amygdala, the frontal cortex, striatus, pallidum, thalamus and cerebellum.