Figure 2

Molecular 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.