Ablation of astrocytic laminin in adult mice disrupts VSMC contractile protein expression. Adenovirus expressing Cre recombinase under the control of GFAP promoter (ad-pGFAP-Cre) was injected into the striata of control or fLAMγ1 mice. 7 d after ad-pGFAP-Cre injection, both SMA (B and D) and SM1 (G and I) were dramatically decreased in fLAMγ1 mice (D and I) when compared with control (B and G). Blood vessels were visualized by CD31 staining (A, C, F, and H). Large caliber blood vessels express SMA (A and B, arrows) and SM1 (F and G, arrows) in control mice, whereas expression of SMA (C and D, arrows) and SM1 (H and I, arrows) in fLAMγ1 mice was decreased. The decreases in SMA and SM1 in fLAMγ1 mice after ad-pGFAP-Cre injection were statistically significant when compared to control by Student’s t test (E and J). Bar, 100 µm.