Restored cerebral blood flow and preserved brain vascular density by
mTOR attenuation in LDLR−/− mice. (a) Profound CBF
deficits in 12 month old LDLR−/− mice were restored to
levels indistinguishable from those of WT mice as a result of
chronic rapamycin treatment (F(2,7) = 21.22,
p = 0.001, Tukey’s test, one-way ANOVA); (b–c)
Reduced BVD (calculated as S = ΔR2/(ΔR2*)2/3) in
control-treated but not in rapamycin-treated LDLR−/− mice
(F(2,7) = 41.48, p = 0.0001, Tukey’s test, one-way
ANOVA; (b) Representative MRI angiograms; (c) Quantitative analyses
of angiogram data. n = 3–4. Data are means ± SEM.
N.B. Data for the single surviving HFD-fed
rapamycin-treated LDLR−/− animal are provided (a,c) but
were not included in the ANOVA. Values for WT CBF (a) and BVD (c)
are included as a reference and correspond to measures performed on
separate groups of WT C57Bl/6 J mice of comparable age; these values
were not included in the ANOVA.