Dexmedetomidine enhances anastomotic healing partly via the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in a rat model of colon surgery

Figure 4 Dexmedetomidine upregulated Wnt signaling pathway activity in rats after intestinal anastomosis surgery. A: Protein-protein interaction network and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis of 19 key genes, identifying significant involvement of the Wnt signaling pathway; B: Dexmedetomidine upregulated the Wnt signaling pathway after intestinal anastomosis surgery (n = 3 per group). ^aP < 0.05. ^bP < 0.01. ¹P compared with the sham group. ²P compared with the intestinal anastomosis group. KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes; IL: Interleukin; GSK-3β: Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; DEX: Dexmedetomidine; IA: Intestinal anastomosis; Sham group: Underwent abdominal only opening and closure; IA + DEX group: Dexmedetomidine was infused in the intestinal anastomosis model.