Version 1
: Received: 26 February 2021 / Approved: 26 February 2021 / Online: 26 February 2021 (11:33:25 CET)
Version 2
: Received: 1 April 2021 / Approved: 1 April 2021 / Online: 1 April 2021 (14:52:17 CEST)
Carollo A, Balagtas JPM, Neoh MJ-Y, Esposito G. A Scientometric Approach to Review the Role of the Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) in Parental Behavior. Brain Sciences. 2021; 11(3):393. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11030393
Carollo A, Balagtas JPM, Neoh MJ-Y, Esposito G. A Scientometric Approach to Review the Role of the Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) in Parental Behavior. Brain Sciences. 2021; 11(3):393. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11030393
Carollo A, Balagtas JPM, Neoh MJ-Y, Esposito G. A Scientometric Approach to Review the Role of the Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) in Parental Behavior. Brain Sciences. 2021; 11(3):393. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11030393
Carollo A, Balagtas JPM, Neoh MJ-Y, Esposito G. A Scientometric Approach to Review the Role of the Medial Preoptic Area (MPOA) in Parental Behavior. Brain Sciences. 2021; 11(3):393. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11030393
Abstract
Research investigating the neural substrates underpinning parental behaviour has recently gained momentum. Particularly, the hypothalamic medial preoptic area (MPOA) has been identified as a crucial region for parenting. The current study conducted a scientometric analysis of publications from 01 January 1972 to 19 January 2021 using CiteSpace software to determine trends in the scientific literature exploring the relationship between MPOA and parental behaviour. In total, 677 scientific papers were analysed, producing a network of 1509 nodes and 5498 links. Four major clusters were identified: "C-Fos Expression'', "Lactating Rat'', "Medial Preoptic Area Interaction'' and "Parental Behavior''. Their content suggests an initial trend in which the properties of the MPOA in response to parental behavior were studied, followed by a growing attention towards the presence of a brain network, including the reward circuits, regulating such behavior. Furthermore, while attention was initially directed uniquely to maternal behavior, it has recently been extended to the understanding of paternal behaviors as well. Finally, although the majority of the studies were conducted on rodents, recent publications broaden the implications of previous documents to human parental behavior, giving insight into the mechanisms underlying postpartum depression. Potential directions in future works were also discussed.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
1 April 2021
Commenter:
Gianluca Esposito
Commenter's Conflict of Interests:
Author
Comment:
The manuscript has been updated with minimal edits in all his sections. Figure 1 was changed and more details about IRB, Informed Consent and Data Availability were given.
Commenter: Gianluca Esposito
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author