Retracted Article: Salvianolic acid B inhibits inflammatory response and cell apoptosis via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in IL-1β-induced osteoarthritis chondrocytes
Authors: Xuejian Wang
Jiawen Teng
Bin Zhu
Journal: RSC Advances (2018)
Discipline: CHEMISTRY
Keywords: Osteoarthritis; Salvianolic acid B; Chondrocytes; Inflammation; Apoptosis
Affiliations: Department of Orthopedics, Baodi Clinical College of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China, Affiliated Hospital of Shandong Traditional Chinese Medicine University, Jinan, PR China

Abstract:  Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common joint disease among late middle-aged or elderly people. The pathological process of OA mainly involves the degeneration of cartilage tissue and deficiency of joint function. Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) is the main active ingredient of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bge, which possesses anti-inflammatory, anti apoptotic and other pharmacological activities. In this study, primary chondrocytes were cultured to investigate the effects of Sal B on the inflammatory response and apoptosis of OA induced by IL-1β, and to explore the possible mechanism. First, we determined the cytotoxicity of Sal B; the results showed that the cell activity of chondrocytes was not influenced by Sal B when the concentration was below 150 μM. Moreover, Sal B (40 and 80 μM) suppressed the expression of iNOS in OA chondrocytes induced by IL-1β, and restrained the secretion of NO, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in chondrocytes obviously. Sal B (40, 80 μM) significantly alleviated the inhibitory effect of cell activity stimulated by IL-1β and up-regulated the expression of Col II and reduced the expression of Col X. Besides, Sal B down-regulated the expression level of Bax and promoted the expression of Bcl-2, showed a significant effect on promoting proliferation and inhibiting cell apoptosis. In addition, we found that IL-1β significantly reduced the ratio of p-PI3K/PI3K, p-Akt/Akt induced the nuclear translocation of AKT and inhibited the activation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Finally, the PI3K inhibitor, LY-294002, was added in IL-1β-induced chondrocytes. The results suggest that Sal B ameliorates IL-1β induced inflammation and suppresses apoptosis in OA by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Our study reveals the mechanism of Sal B acts on OA and may provide a basis for the treatment of OA with Sal B. 

Retracted: Yes

PubPeer comments:
 Fig 2A.  Sal B inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators. IL-1u03b2 (5 ng mLu22121) stimulated chondrocytes for 6 h in vitro and divided them into 5 groups. The control group, control cells + IL-1u03b2 induced group, IL-1u03b2 + Sal B 20 u03bcM group, IL-1u03b2 + Sal B 40 u03bcM group and IL-1u03b2 + Sal B 80 u03bcM group. Adding the same amount of solvent were added into the control group and control cells + IL-1u03b2 induction group. (A and B) The expression of iNOS was detected by western blot . At right, with contrast enhanced to emphasise the texture of the background. Coloured rectangles mark some repetitions in that background. ![file] Other examples of these peculiar Western Blots (resembling a row of processionary caterpillars) are assembled in a spreadsheet here: https: docs.google.com spreadsheets d 19wUtpXazLg2zKbTpDBuq0smG6-A7VHYifkieoyyuTcQ edit?usp=sharing , 
 Retracted [21 January 2021] . --------------------------------------------------- The Royal Society of Chemistry hereby wholly retracts this RSC Advances article due to concerns with the reliability of the data. The images in the article were screened by an image integrity expert who confirmed that some of the western blots images in this paper had been duplicated in other articles. There are no common authors between the papers. The Col II band in Fig. 3B of this paper has been duplicated as the p62 band in Fig. 4A of ref. 1. One of the blots in the control band (GAPDH) in Fig. 3D has also been reused as a blot in Fig. 2C of ref. 1 and in Fig. 4A of ref. 2. The authors were asked to provide the raw data for this article but did not respond. Given the significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, and the lack of raw data, the findings presented in this paper are not reliable. The authors have been informed but have not responded to any correspondence regarding the retraction. Signed: Laura Fisher, Executive Editor, RSC Advances Date: 7th January 2021 References Z. Tang , L. Yang and X. Zhang , RSC Adv., 2017, 7 , 56406 u201456416 RSC . H. Yang and S. Wu , RSC Adv., 2018, 8 , 21816 u201421822 RSC . , 
 In the interests of dead-horse flogging, here I compare - *[left]* Fig 5E from  Long non-coding RNA MEG3 inhibits cell growth of gliomas by targeting miR-93 and inactivating PI3K AKT pathway ([Zhang et al 2017] ). - *[right]* Fig 4C. ![file] ,