Retracted : Dexmedetomidine alleviates neuropathic pain by regulating JAK/STAT pathway in rats
Authors: Shining Xun
Rongzhi Zheng
Journal: Journal of Cellular Biochemistry (2020)
Discipline: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY & GENETICS
Keywords: JAK/STAT; chronic constriction injury; dexmedetomidine; inflammation; neuropathic pain.
Affiliations: First Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Xianyang Shaanxi China

Abstract:  Neuropathic pain (NPP) is an unfavorable pathological pain with the characteristics of hyperalgesia, allodynia, and spontaneous pain. This study aimed to study the influence of dexmedetomidine (Dex) on NPP. Chronic constriction injury (CCI) was operated to form the NPP rat model. The OX42 and anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the nerve growth factors (NGFs), and the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) proteins were separately detected by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction or Western blot. Inflammatory factors were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The results demonstrated that Dex obviously alleviated CCI-stimulated mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. Meanwhile, the expressions of interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, chemokine c-X3-c-motif ligand 1, and C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 were greatly increased in CCI rats, but these effects were reversed by Dex. In addition, Dex promoted the expressions of NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, neurotrophins-3 (NT-3), and NT-4 in CCI rats. Moreover, the RNA or protein expression levels of OX42 and GFAP were significantly increased in CCI rats, while Dex inhibited the expressions of OX42 and GFAP. Furthermore, Dex blocked JAK/STAT signaling pathway by decreasing p-JAK and p-STAT in CCI rats. Dex had the potential to alleviate NPP by regulating JAK/STAT pathway in CCI rat. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 This paper belongs to a set of over 400 papers (as per February 2020) that share very similar Western blots with tadpole-like shaped bands, the same background pattern, and striking similarities in title structures, paper layout, bar graph design, and - in a subset - flow cytometry panels. Despite these similarities, these papers are authored by researchers from different departments and institutes, with almost no overlap in authors. The list of these papers is available here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 1KXqTAyl4j-jVorFPMD2XRpr76LcIKJ0CVyIvRj0exYQ edit?usp=sharing A more detailed description of this set of papers, suspected to all be generated by a common source, a paper mill , can be found here: * https: forbetterscience.com 2020 01 24 the-full-service-paper-mill-and-its-chinese-customers (January 2020) * https: scienceintegritydigest.com 2020 02 21 the-tadpole-paper-mill (February 2020) The same paper mill has been described in these papers: * Jana Christopher - Systematic fabrication of scientific images revealed - FEBS Letters (2018) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13201 * Jennifer A Byrne and Jana Christopher - Digital magic, or the dark arts of the 21st centuryu2014how can journals and peer reviewers detect manuscripts and publications from paper mills? - FEBS Letters (2020) - https: febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi full 10.1002 1873-3468.13747 , 
 June 4, 2021 retraction: https: onlinelibrary.wiley.com doi 10.1002 jcb.30011  The retraction has been agreed following an investigation based on allegations raised by a third party. Several flaws and inconsistencies between results presented and experimental methods described were found, the editors consider the conclusions of this article to be invalid. The authors collaborated in the investigation initially, but were not available for a final confirmation of the retraction. ,