Intestinal barrier in inflammatory bowel disease: A bibliometric and knowledge-map analysis

Barrier surfaces composed of specialized epithelial cells separate the host body from the external environment, and are essential for maintaining proper intestinal physiologic and immune homeostasis.

To explore the development trends and research hotspots of intestinal barrier research in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The publications related to the intestinal barrier in IBD were obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Bibliometric analysis and visualization were conducted using VOSviewer, CiteSpace and R software.

A total of 4482 articles published between 2002 and 2022 were identified. The United States is dominant in intestinal barrier research, whereas the University of Chicago is the most active institution. Jerrold from Harvard Medical School was the most productive authors with the most citations. The journals Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Gastroenterology have made significant contributions in this field. The keywords appearing at high frequency related to the intestinal barrier in IBD were detected, including nuclear factor kappa B, tumor necrosis factor-α, apoptosis, oxidative stress and probiotics. Among them, antioxidants, Akkermansia muciniphila, nanoparticles, short-chain fatty acids and extracellular vesicles have received growing interest in recent research.

The intestinal barrier field is developing rapidly with extensive cooperation. Targeting the gut microbiota and dietary metabolism to regulate the intestinal barrier has shown promising prospective applications and has generated broad interest. The importance of the intestinal barrier in IBD is gradually being fully recognized, providing a new therapeutic perspective for improving inflammation and prognosis.