Recently, DEX was shown to protect against LPS-induced AKI through inhibiting oxidative stress and apoptosis, and enhancing autophagy via the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR)/p38MAPK/JNK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathways (Wang et al., 2020; Zhao et al., 2020). Here, MAPK8 is linked to acute kidney injury.