Fig. 1.

Akt/mTOR activation was followed by increased NF-κB phosphorylation in the HPH rat model. a Primary rat PASMCs were cultured under normoxic or hypoxic conditions. When almost fully confluent, the cells were wounded by scraping, and images were acquired at the different time points as indicated. b PASMCs were wounded and stimulated with various concentrations of the mTORC1 inhibitor rapamycin as indicated. For the rat model of HPH, rats (n = 8/group) were sacrificed at the different time points as indicated. c Hematoxylin-eosin staining of paraffin-fixed lung sections was used for morphological analysis of pulmonary arteries. d Western blotting of lung tissue with the indicated antibodies. All the phospho-protein levels were measured by densitometry and normalized to that of total protein. The data are expressed as the means ± standard errors of the means (n = 8). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001