  The inclusion of running coupling effects in the BK-JIMWLK evolution
equations considerably reduces the energy dependence of the saturation scale
with respect to previous estimates based on fits to HERA data. We discuss how
such slowdown affects the expectations for particle multiplicities in Pb-Pb
collisions at LHC energies. Our prediction is based on the use of
k_t-factorization and on the use of unintegrated gluon distributions taken from
the numerical solutions of the BK equation with running coupling. We obtain a
central value dN/d\eta(sqrt{s}=5.5 TeV)(\eta=0)~1390.
