Dexmedetomidine-mediated neuroprotection against sevoflurane-induced neurotoxicity extends to several brain regions in neonatal rats  J.F. Perez-Zoghbi, W. Zhu, M.R. Grafe, A.M. Brambrink  British Journal of Anaesthesia  Volume 119, Issue 3, Pages 506-516 (September 2017) DOI: 10.1093/bja/aex222 Copyright © 2017 The Author(s) Terms and Conditions

Fig 1 Apoptosis in frontal cortical brain regions of infant rats exposed or not to SEVO and injected with DEX or vehicle. P7 infant rats were exposed to SEVO 2.5 vol % or no anaesthesia and injected with several doses of DEX or vehicle as described in Methods. (A) Representative image of a brain slice cut from a frontal section of brain (indicated in the inset) and immunostained for activated caspase-3 (AC-3) with haematoxylin background. This brain section corresponds to Figure 23 of the P7 rat brain atlas by Khazipov and colleagues.46 The two cortical regions demarcated by red rectangles correspond to the cingulate cortex (Cg) and the primary motor cortex (M1) in the Khazipov atlas; these were selected to count positive AC-3 cells. (B) High magnification image showing AC-3 positive cells at high density in layer II and lower density in layer IV of the M1 region. (c-F) Bar plots summarizing density of AC-3 positive cells for each group in the two frontal cortical regions and layers II and IV as labeled. Data are mean ± (sem) of 4–6 animals per group. *P<0.05, NS no significant, one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's post hoc test. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2017 119, 506-516DOI: (10.1093/bja/aex222) Copyright © 2017 The Author(s) Terms and Conditions

Fig 2 Apoptosis in central brain regions of infant rats exposed or not to SEVO and injected with DEX or vehicle. (A) Representative image of a brain slice cut from a central section of rat brain (indicated in the inset) and immunostained for activated caspase-3 (AC-3) with haematoxylin background. This brain section corresponds to Figure 43 of the P7 rat brain atlas by Khazipov and colleagues.46 The regions of interest (red) were defined according to the anatomical coordinates in this atlas. (B-F) Bar plots summarizing density of AC-3 positive cells for each group in cortical and subcortical brain regions as labeled. Data are mean (sem) of 4–6 animals per group. *P<0.05, one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's post hoc test. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2017 119, 506-516DOI: (10.1093/bja/aex222) Copyright © 2017 The Author(s) Terms and Conditions

Fig 3 Apoptosis in dorsal brain regions of infant rats exposed or not to SEVO and injected with DEX or vehicle. (A) Representative image of a brain slice cut from a dorsal section of rat brain (indicated in the inset) and immunostained for activated caspase-3 (AC-3) with haematoxylin background. This brain section corresponds to Figure 55 of the P7 rat brain atlas by Khazipov and colleagues.46 The regions of interest (red) were defined according to the anatomical coordinates in this atlas. (B, C) Bar plots summarizing density of AC-3 positive cells for each group in dorsal cortical brain regions as labeled. Data are mean (sem) of 4–6 animals per group. *P<0.05, one-way ANOVA and Dunnett's post hoc test. British Journal of Anaesthesia 2017 119, 506-516DOI: (10.1093/bja/aex222) Copyright © 2017 The Author(s) Terms and Conditions