ReviewPharmacology & therapeutics2008
Translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO): molecular sensor of brain injury and repair.
Review in Pharmacology & therapeutics, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 269 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
269 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 493 citations in OpenAlex.
- In vivo quantitative imaging of hippocampal inflammation in autoimmune neuroinflammatory conditions: a systematic review.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Subclinical epileptiform activity in the Alzheimer continuum: association with disease, cognition and detection method.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2024Trial
- Building a database for brain 18 kDa translocator protein imaged using [Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2019Trial
- Kinetic modelling of [Journal of cerebral blood flow and metabolism : official journal of the International Society of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism · 2018Trial
- Randomised clinical trial: exploratory phase 2 study of ONO-2952 in diarrhoea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2017Trial
- Cerebellum Can Serve As a Pseudo-Reference Region in Alzheimer Disease to Detect Neuroinflammation Measured with PET Radioligand Binding to Translocator Protein.Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine · 2015Trial
- Mitochondrial dysfunction in microglia: a novel perspective of depression pathogenesis.Inflammation and regeneration · 2026Review
- FcγR- and CD9-dependent synapse-engulfing microglia in the thalamus drive cognitive impairment following cortical brain damage in mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- TSPO-PET highlights an atypical mitochondrial encephalomyopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) phenotype.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Exploring the Role of TSPO-PET Imaging Among MRI-Negative Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: From the Perspective of Heterogeneity.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- A radiolabeled dendrimer non-invasively identifies and tracks innate immune cell activation in a mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Neuroinflammation demonstrated byAlzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Sex differences in the neuroimmune response following heavy, binge-like alcohol exposure in adolescent rats.Journal of neuroimmunology · 2025Article
- Obesity is associated with increased brain glucose uptake and activity but not neuroinflammation (TSPO availability) in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for BMI-Exercise training reverses increased brain activity.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2025Article
- Article
- Fibrotic Disease: from Signaling Pathways and Biomarkers to Molecular Imaging.Molecular imaging and biology · 2025Review
- Novel Dual Mechanism GRT-X Agonist Acting on Kv7 Potassium Channel/Translocator Protein Receptor Prevents Motoneuron Degeneration Following Exposure to Mouse and Human Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Frontotemporal Dementia Astrocyte-Conditioned Media.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Amyloid-β plaque-associated microglia drive TSPO upregulation in Alzheimer's disease.Acta neuropathologica · 2025Article
- Advantages and challenges of using allogeneic vs. autologous sources for neuronal cell replacement in Parkinson's disease: Insights from non-human primate studies.Brain research bulletin · 2025Review
- Synthesis and evaluation of TSPO-targeting radioligand [Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2025Article
209 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
For over 15 years, the peripheral benzodiazepine receptor (PBR), recently named translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) has been studied as a biomarker of reactive gliosis and inflammation associated with a variety of neuropathological conditions. Early studies documented that in the brain parenchyma, TSPO is exclusively localized in glial cells. Under normal physiological conditions, TSPO levels are low in the brain neuropil but they markedly increase at sites of brain injury and inflammation making it uniquely suited for assessing active gliosis. This research has generated significant efforts from multiple research groups throughout the world to apply TSPO as a marker of "active" brain pathology using in vivo imaging modalities such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in experimental animals and humans. Further, in the last few years, there has been an increased interest in understanding the molecular and cellular function(s) of TSPO in glial cells. The latest evidence suggests that TSPO may not only serve as a biomarker of active brain disease but also the use of TSPO-specific ligands may have therapeutic implications in brain injury and repair. This review presents an overview of the history and function of TSPO focusing on studies related to its use as a sensor of active brain disease in experimental animals and in human studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.