Figure 2From: Dexmedetomidine provides renoprotection against ischemia-reperfusion injury in miceMolecular mechanisms of renoprotection afforded by dexmedetomidine (Dex) in vitro. Cultured human kidney proximal tubular cells (HK2) cells were treated with dexmedetomidine and the time course of phospho-a serine/threonine protein kinase (pAkt) expression in culture homogenised supernatant was assessed with western blot (A) and its effect was abolished with the highly selective inhibitor of PI3-Akt, LY294002 (LY) (50 μM), but not by α2 adrenoceptor antagonist, atipamazole (Atip) (1 nM) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), PD98059 (PD) (50 μM) (B). Data are expressed as the percentage of control (mean ± SD; n = 4). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01 vs control; +P < 0.05; ++P < 0.01 vs Dex.Back to article page