The translocator protein (TSPO) is expressed at low levels in the healthy human brain and is markedly upregulated in response to brain injury and inflammation. This increase in TSPO expression is correlated to the extent of microglial activation, making the measurement of TSPO density a useful indicator of active brain disease. Several classes of TSPO radioligands have therefore been developed ...

Translocator Protein (18kDa, TSPO) is a mitochondrial outer membrane transmembrane protein. Its expression is elevated during inflammation and injury. However, the function of TSPO in vivo is still controversial. Here, we constructed a TSPO global knockout (KO) mouse with a Cre-LoxP system that abolished TSPO protein expression in all tissues and showed normal phenotypes in the physiological co...

Translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) is an outer-mitochondrial membrane transporter which has many functions including participation in the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, regulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), production of cellular energy, and is the rate-limiting step in the uptake of cholesterol. TSPO expression is dysregulated during disease pathologies involving changes in...

Recent loss-of-function studies in tissue-specific as well as global Tspo (Translocator Protein 18 kDa) knockout mice have not confirmed its long assumed indispensability for the translocation of cholesterol across the mitochondrial inter-membrane space, a rate-limiting step in steroid biosynthesis. Instead, recent studies in global Tspo knockout mice indicate that TSPO may play a more fundamen...

Hepatic fibrosis is the wound healing response to chronic hepatic injury caused by various factors. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the utility of translocator protein (18 kDa) (TSPO) as a molecular imaging biomarker for monitoring the progression of hepatic fibrosis to cirrhosis. Model rats were induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), and liver fibrosis was assessed. Positron emission tomo...

Objective: The translocator protein (TSPO) has been implicated in numerous functions including steroid production and regulation of stress and anxiety. Cannabinoids have been shown to reduce plasma testosterone levels and alter anxiety levels. The aim of the present study was to determine whether the synthetic cannabinoid HU210 is able to regulate TSPO expression in several peripheral organs. M...

The 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is highly 0conserved in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Since its discovery in 1977, numerous studies established the TSPO's importance for life essential functions. For these studies, synthetic TSPO ligands typically are applied. Tetrapyrroles present endogenous ligands for the TSPO. Tetrapyrroles are also evolutionarily conserved and regulate multiple functi...

[(11)C]PBR28 binds the 18-kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO) and is used in positron emission tomography (PET) to detect microglial activation. However, quantitative interpretations of signal are confounded by large interindividual variability in binding affinity, which displays a trimodal distribution compatible with a codominant genetic trait. Here, we tested directly for an underlying genetic m...

The 18-kDa mitochondrial translocator protein (TSPO) is known to be highly expressed in several types of cancer, including gliomas, whereas expression in normal brain is low. TSPO functions in glioma are still incompletely understood. The TSPO can be quantified pre-operatively with molecular imaging making it an ideal candidate for personalized treatment of patient with glioma. Studies have pro...

Recent reports on Leydig cell-specific Tspo conditional knockout TspocΔ/Δ mice (1), viable global Tspo knockout (Tspo−/−) mice from two independent laboratories (2, 3), and clones of CRISPR/Cas9mediated Tspo-deleted MA-10 Leydig cells (MA-10TspoΔ/Δ) (4) established that TSPO is not essential for steroid hormone biosynthesis or viability [reviewed in Ref. (5, 6)]. These reports refuted 25 years ...