ArticleMolecular psychiatry2021
Neuronal activity increases translocator protein (TSPO) levels.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 115 citations in OpenAlex.
- In vivo quantitative imaging of hippocampal inflammation in autoimmune neuroinflammatory conditions: a systematic review.Clinical and experimental immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Spatial organization of AQP4 water channel expression in the human brain.Science advances · 2026Article
- Maternal immune activation in mice recapitulates features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in susceptible offspring.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Astroglial disinhibition of cortical circuits disrupts cognition via kynurenic acid in mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Association between post-COVID-19 neuropsychiatric symptoms and persistent glial activation in the limbic system: a TSPO PET study.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- From neuroinflammation to neural inference: computational psychiatry meets precision medicine.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Immunometabolism Reframes Alzheimer's Disease: From Systemic Dysmetabolism to Glial Rewiring.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Article
- TSPO circadian pattern: a test-retest study of [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- PET Imaging Unveils Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms in Psychiatric Disorders: From Microglial Activation to Therapeutic Innovation.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) ligands as novel treatment options in depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Refining seizure foci localization: the potential of TSPO-PET.Acta epileptologica · 2025Review
- A multielectrode array reveals therapeutic potential of translocator protein ligands in a zebrafish model of Dravet syndrome.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Microglia matters: visualizing the immune battle in Parkinson's disease.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- Development and evaluation of [European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging · 2025Article
- Advancing an Inflammatory Subtype of Major Depression.The American journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Fundamental Neurochemistry Review: Lipids across microglial states.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Subregional differences in the hippocampal transcriptomic response after penetrating traumatic brain injury in rats.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- 18 kDa Translocator protein (TSPO) is upregulated in rat brain after peripheral nerve injury and downregulated by diroximel fumarate.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Article
- Astrocytic CaGlia · 2024Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The mitochondrial protein, translocator protein (TSPO), is a widely used biomarker of neuroinflammation, but its non-selective cellular expression pattern implies roles beyond inflammatory processes. In the present study, we investigated whether neuronal activity modifies TSPO levels in the adult central nervous system. First, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to generate a cellular landscape of basal TSPO gene expression in the hippocampus of adult (12 weeks old) C57BL6/N mice, followed by confocal laser scanning microscopy to verify TSPO protein in neuronal and non-neuronal cell populations. We then quantified TSPO mRNA and protein levels after stimulating neuronal activity with distinct stimuli, including designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs), exposure to a novel environment and acute treatment with the psychostimulant drug, amphetamine. Single-cell RNA sequencing demonstrated a non-selective and multi-cellular gene expression pattern of TSPO at basal conditions in the adult mouse hippocampus. Confocal laser scanning microscopy confirmed that TSPO protein is present in neuronal and non-neuronal (astrocytes, microglia, vascular endothelial cells) cells of cortical (medial prefrontal cortex) and subcortical (hippocampus) brain regions. Stimulating neuronal activity through chemogenetic (DREADDs), physiological (novel environment exposure) or psychopharmacological (amphetamine treatment) approaches led to consistent increases in TSPO gene and protein levels in neurons, but not in microglia or astrocytes. Taken together, our findings show that neuronal activity has the potential to modify TSPO levels in the adult central nervous system. These findings challenge the general assumption that altered TSPO expression or binding unequivocally mirrors ongoing neuroinflammation and emphasize the need to consider non-inflammatory interpretations in some physiological or pathological contexts.
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