SMN1 and infection: To determine if vSMC infection was unique to the capillary blood vessel system or if the vSMC alone could be infected, PaSMC were infected with HTNV or ANDV, fixed, and stained with antibodies specific for SMA and hantavirus N. Both HTNV and ANDV N were detected within PaSMC (Figure 2B) indicating that a co-culture system is not required for infection of vSMC.