NEUROBIOLOGY. For the article “Sodium channels in the cytoplasm of Schwann cells” by J. M. Ritchie, J. A. Black, S. G. Waxman, and K. J. Angelides, which appeared in number 23, December 3, 1990, of Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (87, 9290–9294), the undersigned authors would like to note the following: “This paper included immunocytochemical studies using antibody 7493. We interpreted immunostaining with antibody 7493 as providing information about sodium channel localization based on an immunological characterization of antibody 7493 carried out in the laboratory of K. J. Angelides. As reported in the Federal Register on March 12, 1999, based on the report of an investigation by the Baylor College of Medicine and on information obtained by the National Institutes of Health Office of Research Integrity (ORI) during its oversight review into allegations of scientific misconduct by Angelides, ORI, on March 10, 1997, found that Angelides falsified the description of the data in the corresponding text and legend of Fig. 1 of this paper and that his conduct constituted scientific misconduct. The Appeals Board of the Department of Health and Human Services (DAB) issued a decision on February 5, 1999, in which it affirmed the findings of ORI. Given the allegations of irregularity in the immunological characterization of antibody 7493 and the findings that ORI and DAB have made, we cannot stand behind the interpretation of results using this antibody. We therefore retract the immunocytochemical and immunoultrastructural results presented in this paper.”
J. M. Ritchie J. A. Black S. G. Waxman