NOS3 and endothelial dysfunction: Given this finding, together with the observation that TRPV4, eNOS and caveolin-1 are preferentially co-localized and functionally interactive in the caveolae of certain vascular endothelial cells (Sowa, 2012; Goedicke-Fritz et al., 2015), it is possible to hypothesize that a decrease in the number of endothelial caveolae is causally connected to the downregulation of endothelial TRPV4 expression and thus to the endothelial dysfunction in diabetes.