Figure 4.

Rictor Deletion in Smooth Muscle Cells Causes Spontaneous Pulmonary Hypertension

Rictor^SM−/− mice spontaneously develop PH and imatinib reverses the established PH in Rictor^SM−/− mice. (A) Schematic strategy for the generation of Rictor^SM−/− mice and the timeline indicating the time for Tam injection (to induce Rictor KO) and experimental measurements. (B) Representative record of RVP (a) and summarized data (mean ± SE) showing the peak value of RVSP (b) (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0.001) and the Fulton index (RV/[LV + S]) ratio (c) (Kruskal-Wallis test, p = 0.001) in WT and Rictor^SM−/− mice 3 and 6 months after Tam injection with or without 2-week intraperitoneal injection of imatinib (20 mg/kg) daily. Dunn test, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.001, ***p < 0.001 versus WT; ^#p < 0.05, ^##p < 0.01 versus Rictor^SM−/− (3 months). Summarized data of PA wall thickness in WT and Rictor^SM−/− mice 6 months after Tam injection (d). *p < 0.05 versus WT. The numbers of experiments or mice (n) for each group are indicated in each bar. Abbreviations as in Figure 1.