Fig. 2.

mTOR drives peripheral blood flow deficits in a mouse model of atherosclerosis. A Representative images of baseline perfusion of the left hind paw captured with laser speckle contrast imaging. B LDLR^−/− mice with vehicle (LDLR^−/− Veh) have significantly reduced baseline perfusion relative to WT controls (*, Tukey’s q(21)=3.97, p=0.028). Inhibition of mTOR improves perfusion in LDLR^−/− mice on a high-fat diet with rapamycin (LDLR^−/− Rapa) to a level that is not significantly different from WT controls (Tukey’s q(21)=2.11, p=0.31, n.s.). C Representative images of evoked hind paw perfusion after 5 min of the application of menthol/methyl salicylate cream. These images are from the same animals shown in the respective images of panel A. D LDLR^−/− Veh mice on high-fat diet have consistently reduced blood flow at all time points relative to WT (**, Tukey’s q(84)>4.33, p<0.009, applied to significant main effects of group (F(2,21)=4.98, p=0.02) and time (F(3,63)=30.32, p<0.0001) via two-way repeated measures ANOVA). Data are mean ± SEM. n= 6–9 per group