Xiao et al. (2018) demonstrated that DEX pretreatment enhanced PI3K/Akt activation in the hippocampus of juvenile rats, reduced propofol-induced neuronal apoptosis, alleviated long-term neurotoxicity, and improved spatial learning and memory. Similarly, Zhang et al. (2020) found that DEX attenuated neuronal apoptosis in rats with transient focal ischemia-reperfusion through the PI3K/Akt pathway, reducing brain injury. This evidence concerns the gene AKT1 and ischemia.