VEGFA and diabetes mellitus: As was revealed in Figure 4A, qRT-PCR was employed to detect ANRIL, VEGF, FLT-1, FLK-1 and NF-κB mRNA expression levels in rats’ tissues in control group and DM + CI group, showing that DM + CI group had a more apparent increase in ANRIL expression level than control group (P < 0.05) and more remarkably upregulated VEGF, FLT-1 and NF-κB expressions than control group (all P < 0.05), while no statistical difference was shown in FLK-1 mRNA expression between the two groups (P > 0.05).