ArticleNature neuroscience2022
Long-term diazepam treatment enhances microglial spine engulfment and impairs cognitive performance via the mitochondrial 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO).
Article in Nature neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Use of Drugs Affecting GABAMolecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Inhibition of FAM19A5 reverses synaptic loss and cognitive decline in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2025Trial
- Riluzole shifts glial responses to protect synapses and memory in Aβ oligomer-treated rats.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Synaptic correlates of benzodiazepine tolerance.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- D-serine ameliorates cognitive deficits by preserving neuronal and synaptic function in experimental anti-NMDAR encephalitis.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Febrile Seizures in an App-Based Children's Fever Registry: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- Succinic acid enhances sedative activity of diazepam through GABAergic receptor modulation: Evidence from behavioral approach and computational insights.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Carvone derived cannabidiol enantiomers as novel anticonvulsants.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Stress induces behavioral disorders by promoting microglial phagocytosis via decreasing neuronal Dkk3.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Critical role of translocator protein (TSPO) in neuronal mitochondrial dysfunction and mental stress-exacerbated ischemic injury following stroke.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- TSPO contributes to neuropathology and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Sleep Abnormalities and Risk of Alzheimer's Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2025Review
- Perioperative remimazolam administration to prevent delirium and neurocognitive disorders after surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2025Review
- Impaired Synaptic Plasticity Mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Review
- Sigma-1 receptor activation by PRE-084 attenuates sepsis-associated encephalopathy by targeting microglial p38 MAPK-mediated neuroinflammation and neuronal endoplasmic reticulum stress.Inflammation research : official journal of the European Histamine Research Society ... [et al.] · 2025Article
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) ligands as novel treatment options in depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Microglia-mediated inflammation and synaptic pruning contribute to sleep deprivation-induced mania in a sex-specific manner.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Early Locus Coeruleus noradrenergic axon loss drives olfactory dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Psychoactive substances: novel molecular insights and therapeutic potential for Alzheimer's disease.Translational neurodegeneration · 2025Review
- Translocator protein facilitates neutrophil-mediated mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases.World journal of gastroenterology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
17 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Benzodiazepines are widely administered drugs to treat anxiety and insomnia. In addition to tolerance development and abuse liability, their chronic use may cause cognitive impairment and increase the risk for dementia. However, the mechanism by which benzodiazepines might contribute to persistent cognitive decline remains unknown. Here we report that diazepam, a widely prescribed benzodiazepine, impairs the structural plasticity of dendritic spines, causing cognitive impairment in mice. Diazepam induces these deficits via the mitochondrial 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO), rather than classical γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptors, which alters microglial morphology, and phagocytosis of synaptic material. Collectively, our findings demonstrate a mechanism by which TSPO ligands alter synaptic plasticity and, as a consequence, cause cognitive impairment.
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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.