This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier policy on article withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies-and-standards/article-withdrawal).
This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor.
Post-publication, an investigation conducted on behalf of the journal by Elsevier's Research Integrity & Publishing Ethics team identified a concern around the authenticity of the following figures/image panels:
Figure 3 panel A (represents the gastric tissue images at 400X magnification) for CON (control GROUP) and Panel A for OA10 (Only oleic acid treated group 3 at OA dose 10mg/kg.) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 3 panel A (represents the gastric tissue images at 400X magnification) for OA5 (Only oleic acid treated group 2 at OA dose 5mg/kg) and Panel A for OA10 (Only oleic acid treated group 3 at OA dose 10mg/kg) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 3 panel B for OA5 (Only oleic acid treated group 2 at OA dose 5mg/kg) and Panel B for OA20 (Only oleic acid treated group 4 at OA dose 20mg/kg) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 3 panel B for OA20 (Only oleic acid treated group 4 at OA dose 20mg/kg) and Panel B for ADR0.3+OA10 (Protection group 3: Rats were pre-treated with oleic acid (fed orally) at the dose of 10 mg/kg bw 30 min before administering adrenaline, s.c., at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg bw) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 3 panel C for ADR0.3+OA5 (Protection group 2: Rats were pre-treated with oleic acid (fed orally) at the dose of 5 mg/kg bw 30 min before administering adrenaline bitartrate, s.c., at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg bw) and Panel C for ADR0.3+OA20 (Protection group 4 Rats were pre-treated with oleic acid (fed orally) at the dose of 20 mg/kg bw 30 min before administering adrenaline, s.c., at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg bw) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 16 Panel (Representative images of H&E stained rat liver tissue sections of the different groups) for CON (control group) and panel for ADR0.3+OA2.5 (Protection group 1:Rats were pre-treated with oleic acid (fed orally) at the dose of 2.5 mg/kg of bw 30 min before administration of adrenaline, s.c., at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg bw) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
Figure 16 panel (Representative images of H&E stained rat liver tissue sections of the different groups) for OA5 (Only oleic acid treated group 2 at OA dose 5mg/kg) and ADR0.3+OA5 (Protection group 2: Rats were pre-treated with oleic acid (fed orally) at the dose of 5 mg/kg bw 30 min before administering adrenaline bitartrate, s.c., at the dose of 0.3 mg/kg bw) appear to share an overlapping region indicating that they depict the same source image, but are described as representing different experimental samples.
The authors were requested to provide comment on these concerns, as well as the original unprocessed image files to aid investigation. No reply was received within the time given.
The Editor has determined that the findings of the article cannot be relied upon, and has decided to retract the article.
The authors have not responded to the retraction notice.