Fig. 1.

mTOR contributes to age-related peripheral blood flow deficits. A Representative images of baseline hind paw perfusion in 4- and 22-month-old animals captured with laser speckle contrast imaging. B Baseline blood flow is significantly reduced in 22-month-old animals treated with vehicle (22 mo. Veh) relative to 4-month-old animals (4 mo. Veh.) (*, Tukey’s q(17)=3.91, p=0.034). The age-dependent deficit is abolished with mTOR inhibition in 22-month-old mice treated with rapamycin (22 mo. Rapa) (*, Tukey’s q(17)=3.81, p=0.039). C Representative images of evoked hind paw perfusion after 5 min of the application of a menthol/methyl salicylate cream. These images correspond to the same animals shown in respective images of panel A. D All groups showed increased blood flow with time (F(3, 51)=33.2, p<0.0001), but no significant group differences were detected (F(2, 17)=1.86, p=0.18) using two-way repeated measures ANOVA. Data are mean ± SEM. n= 6–7 per group