tspo

Every compound in the sci-wiki that affects tspo; the ones you can source are floated to the front, then the reference-only entries. Tap any for the full entry, mechanism, and outlets.

1 sourced · 1 reference

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Nootropic

Etifoxine

Etifoxine (brand name Stresam; also called etafenoxine) is a benzoxazine anxiolytic (an anti-anxiety drug from a chemical family unrelated to the benzodiazepines like Valium). It has been prescribed for the anxious, tense, physical side of stress mainly in France and a handful of other countries since the late 1970s, and it is not approved by the US FDA. What makes it interesting is a dual mechanism: it calms the brain both by directly tuning up GABA-A receptors and by nudging the body to make more of its own calming neurosteroids. In head-to-head trials it eased anxiety comparably to some benzodiazepines while causing less sedation, less memory and psychomotor impairment, and little rebound or dependence when stopped. It has also been explored beyond anxiety for helping injured peripheral nerves heal and for damping neuroinflammation (inflammation inside nervous tissue). The important caveat is safety: rare but serious liver injury and severe skin reactions have been reported.

1 outlet

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Nootropic

Emapunil

Emapunil (developmental codes XBD-173 and AC-5216) is an investigational anxiolytic that acts as a selective, high-affinity agonist of the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO), a mitochondrial cholesterol-transport protein once known as the peripheral or mitochondrial benzodiazepine receptor. Rather than binding the central benzodiazepine site itself, emapunil stimulates the brain's own synthesis of neurosteroids, most notably allopregnanolone, which then potentiate GABA-A receptors (the brain's main inhibitory chloride channels) to produce anxiolysis. In a landmark 2009 human panic-provocation study it reduced induced anxiety without the sedation, tolerance, or withdrawal that characterise benzodiazepines. It reached Phase 2 clinical evaluation before development was discontinued, and it remains a widely cited proof of concept for neurosteroid-based anxiolysis.

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