TNF and serum lipopolysaccharide activity: There are limited data on the effects of DEX and other α-2 adrenergic receptor agonistson cytokines (13,23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30) and TNF-α production by macrophages (27,28).Taniguchi et al. (25,26) demonstrated that DEX has inhibitory effects on cytokine releasetriggered by endotoxemia.