Hydrogen Shows Promise in Brain Complications from Sepsis Research Review
- Authors
- Yizhe Zhang, Sifan Chen, Weitian Tian, Hui Zhu, Weiwei Li, Wanbing Dai, Xiao Zhang, Xiyao Gu, Diansan Su
- Journal
- Frontiers in Medicine
- Year
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.3389/fmed.2022.817351
- Study Type
- clinical
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- China
- Health Condition
- Sepsis-Associated Encephalopathy
- Body System
- Nervous System
TL;DR
Scientists looked at 20 years of research on sepsis-associated encephalopathy (brain damage from severe infection) and found that the hottest topics right now are how inflammation affects the brain, problems with the barrier that protects the brain, and broken energy-producing parts of brain cells—and these discoveries could soon lead to actual treatments that help sick patients.
Key Finding
Over the past 20 years, sepsis-associated encephalopathy research has increasingly focused on neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, and mitochondrial dysfunction as the primary mechanisms underlying brain damage in severe infection.
Summary
This study analyzed 1,582 scientific papers about sepsis-associated encephalopathy (brain dysfunction caused by severe infection) published between 2001 and 2021. Researchers used computer tools to identify which topics and research directions have become most important in this field. They found that scientists are increasingly focusing on three main areas: neuroinflammation (brain inflammation), blood-brain barrier problems (damage to the protective layer around the brain), and mitochondrial dysfunction (damage to the energy-producing parts of cells).
Practical Takeaway
This is a bibliometric analysis (a study of research trends) rather than an experimental study, so it does not test any treatments or interventions. While the analysis mentions 'molecular hydrogen' as one topic in the research landscape, this study itself does not investigate hydrogen water or its effects on sepsis-associated encephalopathy. The findings suggest where future research may be directed, but do not provide evidence about the effectiveness of any specific treatment.
Abstract
Study objectives: To evaluate sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) research and to quantitatively and qualitatively predict research hot spots using bibliometric analysis. Methods: We extracted relevant publications from the Web of Science Core Collection on July 28, 2021. We investigated the retrieved data by bibliometric analysis (e.g. co-cited and cluster analysis, keyword co-occurrence) using the software CiteSpace and VOSviewer, the Online Analysis Platform of Literature Metrology (http://bibliometric.com/) and Bibliometrix to analyse and predict the trends and hot spots in this field. Main results: We identified 1,582 published articles and reviews on SAE from 2001 to 2021. During this period, the number of manuscripts on SAE increased steadily and peaked in 2021. The USA and China were the leading countries that had a critical impact on SAE research. Among all institutions, Vanderbilt University and Pittsburgh University held leading positions and became central in the collaboration network. Among all the journals, Critical Care Medicine published the maximum number of manuscripts in the field of SAE within 20 years. Dal-Pizzol Felipe was the most productive author (61 papers) and received the largest number of citations (930 citations). Co-citation cluster analysis revealed that the most popular terms on SAE in the manner of cluster labels were critical illness, sepsis-associated encephalopathy, polymicrobial sepsis, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, rat brain, intensive care unit, prior sepsis, molecular hydrogen, inflammation drive, metabolic encephalopathies, delirium pathophysiology, and clinical neuroscience. Keyword burst detection indicated that neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier (BBB) and mitochondria dysfunction were the current research hot spots. Conclusions: Our study revealed that neuroinflammation, blood-brain barrier, and mitochondria dysfunction had been the research foci of SAE over the past 20 years. These have emerged as the basis for transformation from basic research to clinical application in finding effective methods for the prevention and treatment of SAE.