Research hotspots and trends of optogenetics in behavioral neuroscience

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Optogenetics has achieved considerable advances in emotion regulation, reward mechanisms, social behavior, and motor control, demonstrating broad prospects for investigating the pathological mechanisms underlying various neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the global scientific collaboration network of optogenetics in behavioral neuroscience, identify key research foci, and explore future research directions. METHODS: A bibliometric analysis was performed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to perform a visualized analysis of relevant literature indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection from January 2010 to December 2024. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) A total of 859 articles were included, involving 47 countries, 834 research institutions, and 5 525 authors, and 125 journals. Since 2020, the annual number of publications in optogenetics in behavioral neuroscience has increased significantly, indicating that this field has entered a stage of rapid development. The United States and European high-income countries are leading in research output and academic influence. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University, Columbia University, University of California San Diego, and University of Washington are core institutions in the collaboration network. Deisseroth Karl, Stuber Garret D., and Duan Shumin are representative high-yield authors. (2) Optogenetics in behavioral neuroscience has initially formed a stable international collaboration network, with high-income countries playing a leading role in technological innovation and theoretical guidance. Research hotspots mainly focus on emotion regulation, reward and motivation mechanisms, and social behavior modeling. Future research hotspots are expected to focus on neural regulation of sleep comorbid emotional disorders and higher cognitive functions such as social cognition and decision-making, showing an overall trend from basic mechanisms to complex behavioral systems and from single-modal intervention to multimodal integration.

1. Introduction

Optogenetics is a neuromodulation technology that integrates genetic engineering and optics. By targeting the expression of light-sensitive proteins in specific types of neurons and applying light of specific wavelengths, it enables reversible activation or inhibition of neuronal activity with millisecond-level temporal resolution [1]. Compared with traditional electrical stimulation and chemogenetic methods, optogenetics offers advantages such as high cell-type specificity, precise spatial targeting, and good operational reproducibility, making it an essential tool for dissecting neural circuit function and behavioral regulation mechanisms.

Behavioral neuroscience aims to elucidate how the brain regulates complex behaviors such as emotion, cognition, learning, memory, and movement through neuronal firing, neural circuit connectivity, and specific brain region activities [2]. Since being named 'Method of the Year' by Nature Methods in 2010, optogenetics has achieved significant progress in emotion regulation, reward mechanisms, social behavior, and motor control [3-6], and has shown broad prospects in studying the pathological mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression, autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy [7-9]. In particular, the integration of optogenetics with patch-clamp electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and single-cell sequencing has advanced multi-scale research from molecular, cellular, and circuit levels to behavioral levels, providing important support for understanding the behavioral essence of diseases and developing precise intervention strategies.