NOS3 and diabetes mellitus: Recently, Enging and coworkers pointed out that phosphorylated vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein p-VASPSer239/total VASP and p-eNOSSer1177/total eNOS ratios were significantly lower in the diabetic rats' aortas compared to normal rats' aorta, indicating that diabetes prompts vascular smooth muscle impairment and endothelial dysfunction throughout the reduction of eNOS activity and the downregulation of the NO/cGMP signaling pathway [51].