Sigrid Juselius Foundation and the Academy

Kidney ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury is a common cause of acute kidney injury. We tested whether dexmedetomidine (Dex), an alpha2 adrenoceptor (a2-AR) agonist, protects against kidney I/R injury. Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into four groups: (1) Sham-operated group; (2) I/R group (40 min ischemia followed by 24 h reperfusion); (3) I/R group + Dex (1 lg/kg i.v. 60 min before the surgery), (4) I/R group + Dex (10 lg/kg). The effects of Dex postconditiong (Dex 1 or 10 lg/kg i.v. after reperfusion) as well as the effects of peripheral a2-AR agonism with fadolmidine were also examined. Hemody-namic effects were monitored, renal function measured, and acute tubular dam-age along with monocyte/macrophage infiltration scored. Kidney protein kinase B, toll like receptor 4, light chain 3B, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), sirtuin 1, adenosine monophosphate kinase (AMPK), and endo-thelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expressions were measured, and kidney transciptome profiles analyzed. Dex preconditioning, but not postconditioning