Effects of rehabilitation training on apoptosis of nerve cells and the recovery of neural and motor functions in rats with ischemic stroke through the PI3K/Akt and Nrf2/ARE signaling pathways
Authors: Gao-Zhuo Tang
Dong-Mei Wu
Xin-Rui Han
Xiao-Fei Jin
Jun-Chang Wu
Xin Wen
Min Shen
Jun Lu
Shan Wang
Yuan-Lin Zheng
Journal: Brain Research Bulletin (2017)
Discipline: NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR
Keywords: Apoptosis; Ischemic stroke; Neural and motor function; Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway; PI3K/Akt signaling pathway
Affiliations: Institute of Physical Education, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, PR China., Key Laboratory for Biotechnology on Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province, School of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, PR China., Department of Neurology, Tangshan People's Hospital, Tangshan 063000, PR China., Key Laboratory for Biotechnology on Medicinal Plants of Jiangsu Province, School of Life Science, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou 221116, PR China. Electronic address: .

Abstract:  This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief and Academic Committee of Jiangsu Normal University (ACJSNU). ACJSNU informed the journal that they were aware of PubPeer comments of data fabrication and manipulation in Fig 4A, Fig 5A, Fig 7A + C as detailed here [https://pubpeer.com/publications/D732FA0F313382B58DD725C25A8AB9#3]. ACJSNU launched an investigation and invited two independent referees to review the issues raised on PubPeer and they agreed the paper displays signs of scientific fraud. An investigation made by Tangshan People's Hospital, concluded there are no researchers called Jun-Chang Wu and Gao-Zhou Tang in the hospital. ACJSNU requested that the corresponding authors of the paper provide the original experimental records and data for verification. However, the authors have been unable to address the above concerns, and have stated that the data were obtained from a third party which was not disclosed in the article. The National Natural Science Foundation of China has also investigated this paper and others by the corresponding authors [https://www.nsfc.gov.cn/publish/portal0/tab442/info85495.htm]. The Editor-in-Chief therefore no longer has confidence in the data presented and the conclusions of the article. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 In Figure 5a, some of the control lanes are empty. When adjusting the contrast to extreme levels, nothing is seen. You would expect to see some noise even if only empty vector is included in these lanes. I have included a similar experiment with and without Tau. Furthermore, several of the loading controls in the Western immunoblots (actin) appear overexposed, indicating that it is impossible to judge the experiment. Examples are shown (dotted squares). Generally, the Western immunoblots have a poor resolution and difficult to judge the data. I used the PMC article, and maybe the quality downloaded directly from the publisher is better?  , 
 #1 I agree with you. More importantly, all the westenblot reuslt do not have quantifications which means one can not make conclusions based on these data. , 
 #1 **Question:** In Figure 5a, some of the control lanes are empty. When adjusting the contrast to extreme levels, nothing is seen. You would expect to see some noise even if only empty vector is included in these lanes. I have included a similar experiment with and without Tau. **Response:** Thank you for your effort. In the empty vector groups (the first two lanes), there was no expression of GFP-Tau, thus no very weak signal. Further, the antibodies used were very specific + good washing of the membranes, it is common to have a very clean background. Detailed information of the antibodies was provided in the supp data of the published paper. As there was u2018No signalu2019 of the frist two lanes as well as u2018nou2019 u2019lowu2019 signals in other lanes of the different pTau bolts, that was the reason for us to provide u2018long exposureu2019 images. Even for the long exposure we chose, we were still unable to see signals for many lanes; however, we were unable to exposure further as this would lead to the u2018overexposureu2019 of other lane(s) with stronger signal(s). The original full gel images were also included in Supplementary data (Supp. Note, slide 23 in https: static-content.springer.com esm art%3A10.1038%2Fs41593-018-0332-9 MediaObjects 41593_2018_332_MOESM1_ESM.pdf). In the GFAP-Tau blot, one could see u2018bands signalsu2019 here, indicating proteins loaded in all wells (arrow, image attached). **Question:** Furthermore, several of the loading controls in the Western immunoblots (actin) appear overexposed, indicating that it is impossible to judge the experiment. Examples are shown (dotted squares). Generally, the Western immunoblots have a poor resolution and difficult to judge the data. I used the PMC article, and maybe the quality downloaded directly from the publisher is better? **Response: **The bands of beta-actin were indeed very strong and it could be better to increase the dilution of the 1st antibody. However, the data were in good quality enough for quantification as we only used gel data which were not u2018overexposedu2019. By using the BIO-RAD ChemiDoc MP system, a u2018red colouru2019 shows up if the gel is overexposed; thus we excluded over-exposed images.  ,