4.1. Reagents

Bicalein, a 5,6,7-trihydroxy-2-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one, was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich with the product number 465119 (Saint Louis, MO, USA). The Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) number of baicalein was 491-67-8. The standard product is 270.24 g/mol, with a purity of no less than 98%. We dissolved the baicalein in DMSO (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO, USA) to make stock solutions and stored them at −20 °C. Angiotensin II was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (product number 4474-91-3, MO, USA), having a molecular weight of 1046.18 g/mol. The trichrome stain (Masson) kit was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (product number HT15). The elastic stain kit (Verhoeff–Van Gieson/VVG staining) was purchased from Abcam (product number ab150667, Waltham, MA, USA). Thiazolyl blue formazan (MTT) was obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (product number 88417, MO, USA). The cell proliferation kit (XTT) was purchased from Roche with the product number 11465015001 (Mannheim, Germany). Cal-520 AM was purchased from Abcam (product number ab171868, MA, USA). DCFH-DA was obtained from Invitrogen (product number D399, Waltham, MA, USA).