Gencer, BaranKaraca, TuranTufan, Hasan AliKara, SelcukArikan, SedatToman, HuseyinKaraboga, Ihsan2024-06-122024-06-1220141556-95271556-9535https://doi.org/10.3109/15569527.2013.857677https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14551/18690Objective: Dexmedetomidine is an alpha 2 adrenoceptor agonist and can be used for postoperative sedation, analgesia and anesthesia-sparing properties. Furthermore, the neuroprotective effects against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in the central nervous system have been shown in experimental studies. This study aimed to investigate the protective effects of dexmedetomidine against apoptosis in retinal I/R injury in the rat. Materials and methods: Retinal I/R injury was induced by transient elevation of intraocular pressure. Eighteen animals were divided into three groups (n = 6): sham, I/R and treatment. The I/R injury and protective effects of the dexmedetomidine were evaluated by retinal thickness determined by histological sections, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated biotin-deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL) and immunohistochemistry of caspases 3. Results: A decrease in the retinal thickness and an increase in the apoptotic cells were found to be statistically significant in I/R and treatment groups when compared with the control group. However, in comparison with the I/R group we realized that the administration of dexmedetomidine reduced the thinning of retinal thickness and also decreased the number of caspases 3 and TUNEL-positive cells. Conclusion: Dexmedetomidine is protective against apoptosis in retinal I/R injury in rats.en10.3109/15569527.2013.857677info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessApoptosisDexmedetomidineRetinal Ischemia/Reperfusion InjuryIschemia-Reperfusion InjuryCerebral-IschemiaGlutamate ReleaseAgonistModelDamageNeurotoxicityDegenerationPathogenesisExpressionArticle334283288Q3WOS:0003454984000042-s2.0-8491210178024517497Q3