The core subject of this review is the targeting of 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) for: (1) Diagnostic approaches, in particularspecific positron emission tomography (PET)scan) to visualize brain damage due to disease and injury; and (2) therapeutic approaches, i.e., application of TSPO ligands with different structures and properties to animal models for Parkinson disease (PD), Huntington disease, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and stroke. This evidence concerns the gene TSPO and Stroke.