Bibliometric and visual analysis of microglia-related neuropathic pain from 2000 to 2021

Abstract

BackgroundMicroglia has gradually gained researchers’ attention in the past few decades and has shown its promising prospect in treating neuropathic pain. Our study was performed to comprehensively evaluate microglia-related neuropathic pain via a bibliometric approach.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed publications focusing on microglia-related neuropathic pain from 2000 to 2021 in WoSCC. VOS viewer software and CiteSpace software were used for statistical analyses.ResultsA total of 2,609 articles were finally included. A steady increase in the number of relevant publications was observed in the past two decades. China is the most productive country, while the United States shares the most-cited and highest H-index country. The University of London, Kyushu University, and the University of California are the top 3 institutions with the highest number of publications. Molecular pain and Pain are the most productive and co-cited journals, respectively. Inoue K (Kyushu University) is the most-contributed researcher and Ji RR (Duke University) ranks 1st in both average citations per article and H-index. Keywords analyses revealed that pro-inflammatory cytokines shared the highest burst strength. Sex differences, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress are the emerging keywords in recent years.ConclusionIn the field of microglia-related neuropathic pain, China is the largest producer and the United States is the most influential country. The signaling communication between microglia and neurons has continued to be vital in this field. Sexual dimorphism, neuroinflammation, and stem-cell therapies might be emerging trends that should be closely monitored.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in chronic pain research: A decade of bibliometric analysis and network visualization

“…Similarly, microglia has gained the researcher's focus for a few decades due to its promising prospect in combating neuropathic pain. Zhang et al [40] conducted a bibliometric study to comprehensively evaluate microglia-associated neuropathic pain research between the years 2000 to 2021. The annual increase in the total number of publications and citations of this research area, which peaked in the year 2021, possibly explained the similar increased trends of BDNF in chronic pain research, as BDNF is closely related to the mechanism of P2X4 receptor-induced microglia activation during the pathogenesis of neuropathic pain [41] , [42] .…”

Trends and hotspots in non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease: a 10-year bibliometric analysis

“…Through bibliometric analyses, web-based knowledge maps can be drawn, new trends predicted, and recent advances in specific fields observed ( Guler et al, 2016 ; Yin et al, 2021 ). Bibliometrics is currently used to assess research trends and “hot spots” in various fields, such as disease treatment, pain management, molecular biology, environmental pollution, food safety, and new materials ( Chu et al, 2022 ; Li et al, 2022 ; Dirpan et al, 2023 ; Guo et al, 2023 ; Li C. et al, 2023 ; Zhang et al, 2023 ).…”