Treatment effect on mTOR signaling and expression of p21 in the liver of Tsc1+/− mice.
(A) Western analysis. Proteins were prepared from liver tissues dissected from Tsc1+/− mice treated for 2 months with vehicle, atorvastatin, rapamycin, or atorvastatin/rapamycin combination. β-Actin was used as a loading control. Representative Western blots were presented to show phosphorylation of Akt at S473 and S6 at S235/236 and expression of p21.
(B) q-PCR analysis. Total RNA was isolated from liver tissues dissected from Tsc1+/− mice treated for 2 months with vehicle, atorvastatin, rapamycin, or atorvastatin/rapamycin combination (n = 5 each group). RNA was used to synthesize cDNA, and real time q-PCR was performed to estimate relative quantity of Cdkn1a transcripts.