Extraction and culture of BMSCs

Sprague Dawley rats (4 weeks old) were obtained from the Animal Center of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine and were housed in standard laboratory rooms under controlled conditions. All animal experiments were performed according to international guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals and were approved by the Experimental Animal Committee of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. BMSCs were extracted and cultured according to our previously described protocol²⁴. Briefly, bone marrow plugs were extracted from the bones of the hind legs of the rats, and the cells were centrifuged and resuspended twice in complete medium (Cyagen Biosciences, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Subsequently, 5 × l0⁸ cells in 9 mL of complete medium were transferred to 100-mm culture dishes. Three days later, the medium was refreshed and only adherent cells were maintained in complete medium supplemented with glucose and 10% (v/v) fetal bovine serum (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) until treatment with erastin (MedChemExpress, Monmouth Junction, NJ, USA).