The intellectual structure and emerging trends on nanotechnology in inflammatory bowel disease: A bibliometric analysis from 2005 to 2024

BACKGROUND: As a chronic inflammatory disease of the intestine, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is challenged by existing treatment methods, such as poor drug targeting, low bioavailability, and systemic toxicity. In recent years, nanotechnology has provided a new strategy for the treatment and diagnosis of IBD due to its advantages of precise delivery, controllable release and multifunctional integration. METHODS: We searched the Web of Science Core Collection database for relevant literature about nanotechnology and IBD published from 2005 to 2024. We used SciExplorer, VOSviewer, and Citespace to analyze countries, institutions, authors, keywords, highly cited references, and co-cited references to discuss research hotspots and trends in this field. RESULTS: The research analysis included a total of 959 pieces of literature, with China and the USA leading in the number of papers published and academic influence. The Georgia State University had the most papers posted. Merlin Didier and Xiao Bo were the scholars who published the most. The research hotspots mainly focus on nanodrug delivery systems, targeted therapy and inflammation regulation, while exosomes, macrophage polarization, and intestinal microbiota regulation are becoming new research frontiers. In the future, intelligent responsive nanomaterials, multifunctional nanoplatforms, and personalized nanotechnology will become important development directions. CONCLUSION: A new avenue for the accurate diagnosis and treatment of IBD has been unlocked by nanotechnology, but its clinical translation needs to break through the bottlenecks of biocompatibility, large-scale preparation and interdisciplinary collaboration. In the future, we should focus on the development of "intelligent responsive nanosystems," deepen the research on the interaction mechanism of "nano-microbe-host," and promote the establishment of a personalized treatment system.