Dexmedetomidine ameliorates acute lung injury following orthotopic autologous liver transplantation in rats probably by inhibiting Toll-like receptor 4-nuclear factor kappa B signaling

Background To investigate whether pretreatment with dexmedetomidine (Dex) has a protective effect against acute lung injury (ALI) in an orthotopic autologous liver transplantation (OALT) rat model and to explore the mechanisms responsible for the protective effect of Dex against lung injury.