Abstract
At the request of Sage and the Journal Editor, the following article has been retracted:
Mada SB, Reddi S, Kumar N, et al. Protective effects of casein-derived peptide VLPVPQK against hydrogen peroxide-induced dysfunction and cellular oxidative damage in rat osteoblastic cells. Hum Exp Toxicol 2017; 36(9). https://doi.org/10.1177/0960327116678293.
Sage was made aware of concerns regarding the following figure in the article: • A section of Panel 4 in Figure 7A (PEP 100 ng/mL + H2O2) appears highly similar to a section of Panel 5 in Figure 7A (PEP 200 ng/mL + H2O2), despite representing different experimental conditions.
The authors responded to state that this was an honest error. They provided images, but were unable to provide raw, uncropped images as requested, nor did they provide any corrected images. The same overlap in Figure 7A was present in the source file provided. Additional review revealed broader concerns across multiple figures, including missing or inconsistent labeling of experimental groups (e.g., Figures 2A, 3A, and 4A), absence of clear image metadata (such as time stamps or scale bars), and lack of correspondence between image panels and the experimental conditions described in the text.
Due to unresolved concerns about image integrity that call into question the validity of the findings, this article has been retracted.
The authors did not agree with the decision to retract.