REVIEW article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Molecular Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1600286
Neurobiological Mechanisms of the Effect of Exercise on Depressive Disorder: Analysis Using CiteSpace
Provisionally accepted
- school of physical education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
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Research on the neural mechanisms of exercise interventions for depressive disorder has evolved significantly over the past decade; however, there remains a lack of scientometric synthesis tracking these changes, including analyses of researcher networks and scientific productivity up to December 31, 2024. We searched the Web of Science Core Collection using specific search terms and conducted a comprehensive scientometric analysis to systematically examine the evolutionary pathways, collaborative networks, and core mechanisms in the relevant literature from 2006 to 2024. Our analysis included 170 core studies, and the co-cited reference network identified seven clusters with well-structured networks (Q=0.9299) and highly confident clustering (S=0.9794). Results revealed that exercise exerts antidepressant effects through modulation of neurotransmitter systems (e.g., 5-HT, GABA receptor subtypes), up-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, and enhancement of hippocampal neuroplasticity. The research development was divided into three distinct phases: the early phase (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014), which validated the effects of exercise on monoamine transmitters; the middle phase (2015-2019), which confirmed that aerobic exercise can produce effects comparable to pharmaceutical interventions; and the recent phase (post-2020), which has focused on geneenvironment interactions and metabolism-neuraxis mechanisms. The collaborative network has expanded from the initial Swiss-German axis to a global level. Future research should integrate metabolomics and neuroimaging technologies to develop precise exercise prescriptions and optimize real-time intervention feedback using digital tools, thereby providing theoretical frameworks and translational pathways to enhance non-pharmaceutical intervention strategies.
Keywords: Exercise, Depressive Disorder, Neurobiological mechanisms, BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), Scientometric analysis
Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Jiayi, Hou and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Haiying Yang, school of physical education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
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