In the injured carotid artery, the media is thicker than in control vessels due to proliferation of smooth muscle cells. The thickness of neointima is similar to or greater than the thickness of the media in the same artery. Adventitia is also thickened with robust collagen deposition (Figure 1B, D). For the artery treated with the reagent tested for its ability to inhibit neointima formation (in this case, STIM1 shRNA), the neointimal area of the cross section is smaller compared to the control injured artery (Figure 2). The validity of STIM1 knockdown with shRNA was evident as the STIM1 expression level largely decreased in the injured vessel neointima and media.