The Protective Effects of Dexmedetomidine Preconditioning on Hepatic Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats
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Updated: Nov 27, 2025
Method of Direct Segmental Intra-hepatic Delivery Using a Rat Liver Hilar Clamp Model
Published on: April 2, 2017
Hyunyoung Lim1, Tae Yeon Kim1, Soo Yeon Kim1
1Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, Hanyang University Medical Center, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Background:
Ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is 1 of the major problems in liver surgery. This study aims to evaluate the histologic and biochemical effects of dexmedetomidine on ischemia/reperfusion injury in the liver of rats.
Methods:
Twenty-two Sprague-Dawley male rats were separated into 3 groups: group sham, IR (IR injury), and IR-D (IR with dexmedetomidine). Ischemia was induced for 45 minutes with portal clampage and the reperfusion period was 120 minutes. Group IR-D received 3 μg/kg of dexmedetomidine with loading for 10 minutes and then 3 μg/kg/h of dexmedetomidine was continuously injected intravenously 30 minutes before portal clampage. Biochemical factors (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase), variable cytokines (B cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bax, caspase 3, caspase 8, nuclear factor-kappa B, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein, and receptor-interacting protein kinase-3), and histologic findings were investigated.
Results:
Dexmedetomidine preconditioning significantly suppressed the histologic damage. In the IR-D group, the expression of IL-6 was decreased and the Bcl-2 was increased when compared with the IR group.
Conclusion:
Dexmedetomidine suppresses hepatic IR injury and the protective mechanism appears to involve the decrease of IL-6 and upregulation of Bcl-2 expression, which result in the attenuation of inflammatory response and the inhibition of apoptosis.
