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

Figure 8 The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway inhibitor dickkopf-1 reverses the protective effects of dexmedetomidine on tight junctions in IEC-6 cells. A: Western blot detection of β-catenin expression levels in each group of cells; B: Western blot detection of zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) expression levels in each group of cells. Western blot results indicate that dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) effectively inhibits the Wnt signaling pathway, and that inhibiting Wnt signaling reverses dexmedetomidine’s upregulatory effect on claudin-1 and ZO-1 expression levels. ^aP < 0.01. ^bP < 0.001. Control group: IEC-6 cells maintained in standard culture medium; LPS group: IEC-6 cells treated with 5 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide for 72 hours; LPS + DEX group: IEC-6 cells pretreated with 4.8 μM dexmedetomidine for 24 hours followed by treatment with 5 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide for 72 hours; LPS + DEX + DKK-1 group: IEC-6 cells pretreated with 4.8 μM dexmedetomidine and 100 ng dickkopf-1 for 24 hours followed by 5 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide for 72 hours; LPS: Lipopolysaccharide; DEX: Dexmedetomidine; GAPDH: Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; GSK-3β: Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta; DKK-1: Dickkopf-1; ZO-1: Zonula occludens-1.