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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Integrative and Regenerative Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1550208
This article is part of the Research Topic Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Derived Extracellular Vesicles as Next-Generation Biological Drugs for Tissue Regeneration View all articles
A bibliometric and visualized analysis of extracellular vesicles in degenerative musculoskeletal diseases (from 2006 to 2024)
Provisionally accepted- 1 Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
- 2 Second Affiliated Hospital, Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, China
Background: With the rapid development of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in regenerative medicine research, they have become a promising new direction in the mechanistic, diagnosis and treatment studies of degenerative musculoskeletal diseases (DMDs), and has attracted increasing attention. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive and objective summary analysis to help researchers quickly and conveniently understand the development trajectory and future trends of this field.Method: This study collected articles and reviews published from 2006 to 2024 on EVs in DMDs from the Web of Science database. Bibliometric and visual analysis was conducted using several tools, including Microsoft Excel Office, VOSviewer, CiteSpace, Pajek, and R packages.Results: 1182 publications were included in the analysis from 2006 to 2024. Notably, there was a rapid increase in the number of publications starting in 2016, suggesting that this field remains in a developmental stage. Co-authorship analysis revealed that China ranked first in terms of publications, whereas the United States led in citations. The journal with the highest number of publications was International Journal of Molecular Sciences (INT J MOL SCI). The most prolific authors were Ragni, E with 23 publications, while the most cited author was Toh, WS. Additionally, nine of the top ten institutions were from China, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University leading in the number of publications. The most cited article was "MSC exosomes mediate cartilage repair by enhancing proliferation, attenuating apoptosis and modulating immune reactivity", authored by Zhang, S, and published in BIOMATERIALS in 2018.Conclusion: This study, through bibliometric and visual analysis, clearly illustrates the collaborative relationships among countries, authors, institutions, and journals, providing valuable insights for researchers seeking academic collaboration opportunities. Moreover, the analysis of keywords and citations allows researchers to better understand key research hotspots and frontiers in this field, and points toward promising directions for future research. The growing interest in EV research in DMDs over recent years indicates increasing attention and a dynamic progression in this field.
Keywords: Degenerative musculoskeletal diseases, bibliometric analysis, extracellular vesicles, senescence, cell-free therapy
Received: 23 Dec 2024; Accepted: 26 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, He, Huang, Wang, Xu, Lin and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiao Lin, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
Jun Liu, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.