Open Access Article
This Open Access Article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence
Retraction: Sericin hydrogels promote skin wound healing with effective regeneration of hair follicles and sebaceous glands after complete loss of epidermis and dermis
Chao
Qi
a,
Luming
Xu
a,
Yan
Deng
a,
Guobin
Wang
*b,
Zheng
Wang
*ab and
Lin
Wang
*ac
aResearch Center for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China. E-mail: lin_wang@hust.edu.cn; zhengwang@hust.edu.cn
bDepartment of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China. E-mail: wgb@hust.edu.cn
cDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China
First published on 11th January 2023
Abstract
Retraction of ‘Sericin hydrogels promote skin wound healing with effective regeneration of hair follicles and sebaceous glands after complete loss of epidermis and dermis’ by Chao Qi et al., Biomater. Sci., 2018, 6, 2859–2870, https://doi.org/10.1039/C8BM00934A.
The Royal Society of Chemistry, with the agreement of the authors, hereby wholly retracts this Biomaterials Science article due to concerns with the reliability of the data in the published article. The authors investigated the mistakes and found that careless compiling of images contributed to the misgrouping of the images. To avoid misunderstanding of the results, the authors apologize for these mistakes and agree to retract the paper at this point.
After publication, the authors contacted the journal requesting to replace the western blot data in Fig. 3K and microscopy panels in Fig. S3. The authors stated that the original western blot experiments of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) were inaccurate.
However, further analysis of the article and ESI identified many instances of duplicated images affecting Fig. 2, 6D, and Fig S3.
Two panels in Fig. 2 (MPO, Day 7, Tegaderm and PELNAC panels) are rotated, partially duplicated versions of the same image.
The control panel in Fig. 6D partially overlaps with 2 panels in Fig. S3 (0.1% (w/v), SMH degradation solution panel and 1% (w/v), Gelatin panel).
The SMH panel in Fig. 6D partially overlaps with the 1% (w/v), FBS panel in Fig. S3.
In addition, further instances of partially duplicated panels within Fig. S3 have been identified, as outlined below.
The FBS (0.01% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (0.01% (w/v)), SMH degradation (0.1% (w/v)) and Gelatin (1% (w/v)) panels.
The Gelatin (0% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the Gelatin (0.01% (w/v)), SMA (0% (w/v)) and SMH degradation (0% (w/v)) panels.
The Gelatin (0.01% (w/v)) panel duplicates the SMA (0% (w/v)) and partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (0% (w/v)) panels.
The Gelatin (0.1% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the Gelatin (1% (w/v)) panel.
The Gelatin (1% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (0.1% (w/v)) panel.
The SMA (0% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (0% (w/v)) panel.
The SMA (1% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (1% (w/v)) panel.
The SMA degradation (0.01% (w/v)) panel partially overlaps with the SMH degradation (0.1% (w/v)) panel.
Given the number and significance of the concerns about the validity of the data, the findings presented in this paper are no longer reliable.
Signed: Chao Qi, Luming Xu, Yan Deng, Guobin Wang, Zheng Wang and Lin Wang
Date: 21st December 2022
Retraction endorsed by Maria Southall, Executive Editor, Biomaterials Science
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023 |