From apoptosis to pyroptosis: A two-decade analysis of spinal cord injury systematic review

Abstract

Background: Spinal cord injury has a significant impact on patients’ physical and mental health, with cell death playing a key role in the pathology. Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection database was searched and screened according to inclusion criteria for publications between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2023. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using bibliomatrix R-package, CiteSpace, and VOSviewer software. Results: A total of 2309 publications were identified, with a stable growth in the first 13 years and accelerated growth in the past decade, indicating an increasing trend in this field. These publications on cell death after spinal cord injury originated from 251 countries/regions. China contributed the most publications, with funding support primarily from China, and Wenzhou Medical University in China being the leading institution with the highest number of publications. Salvatore Cuzzocrea was the most influential author. The research direction in this field after 2000 mainly focused on topics such as apoptosis, autophagy, mesenchymal stem cells, mammalian target of rapamycin pathway, ferroptosis, functional recovery, neuronal regeneration, and NOD-like receptor protein 3.Current hot topics and future research trends revolve around extracellular vesicles including exosomes, extracellular vesicle-mediated mesenchymal stem cells, microRNA, autophagy, NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome-mediated cell pyroptosis, and mechanisms of glial scar formation. Conclusion: Publications in this field have grown rapidly in the past 2 decades and are expected to keep increasing. Current hot topics include mesenchymal stem cells, apoptosis, autophagy, and ferroptosis. Future research will focus on extracellular vesicle-mediated mesenchymal stem cells, autophagy, inflammasome-mediated cell pyroptosis, and glial scar formation.