Fig. 3: Tsc2 KO in mouse lung mesenchyme leads to mTORC1 pathway activation and alveolar enlargement.
a Alveolar enlargement in Tbx4LME_CreTsc2KO, visualized by H&E staining of the 8-week-old mouse lung sections. Tsc2-dependent mTORC1 activation in lung mesenchyme in vivo visualized by dual immunofluorescent staining of the consecutive sections of the same mouse lungs for pS6 (green) and the markers of the two major mesenchymal subsets: PDGFRα, PDGFRβ (red) (N = 6, three independent experiments). b Immunoblots of the whole lung lysates from 12-week-old Tbx4LME_CreTsc2WT (WT) and Tbx4LME_CreTsc2KO (KO) mice and mouse lung fibroblasts (MLFs) derived from those lungs, showing TSC2 protein loss and expression of molecular markers of mTORC1 pathway activation (N = 3). c Inhibition of mTORC1 by Rapamycin (administered in vivo for 4 weeks) slows down alveolar enlargement of the 8-week-old Tbx4LME_CreTsc2KO mice. Mean linear intercept (MLI) used as a measure of the alveolar size (N = 6 per group, N = 15 images per lung). Error bars represent mean values with SD. P values were obtained from multiple T-test group comparison. Statistical significance determined using the Holm–Sidak method, with alpha = 0.05. Each row was analyzed individually, without assuming a consistent SD. Raw data supporting the figure panels b and c are included in the Source data file.
