Retraction of: Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-019-43568-x, published online 07 May 2019
The Editors have retracted this Article.
After publication, concerns were raised about the appropriateness of the model used in the study. The study aimed to explore the impact of the food preservatives (in particular sodium nitrate) and whether thymoquinone can have protective function against oxidative stress caused by chronic exposure to this chemical. However, the dosage of sodium nitrite used at the study was at the level of half of the LD50 for rats, which would model extreme rather than low-level exposure. The mismatch between the model and the research aims casts doubts on the conclusions of the Article. Additionally, concerns were also raised regarding the data presented in this Article.
Figure 6C (Control group) and Figure 6D (TQ treated control group) appear to originate from the same sample.
Figure 6E (SN group) and Figure 6E (TQ treated SN group) appears to have some partial overlap.
Authors were unable to provide the raw images and satisfactory explanation for raised concerns. The Editors therefore no longer have confidence in the research presented in this work.
Ahmed Mohsen Hamdan, Kousalya Prabahar, Mohamed E. E. Shams and Mohammed M. Al-Gayyar disagree with this retraction. None of the remaining Authors have responded to correspondence from the Publisher about this retraction.