2.1. Animals

Male Sprague Dawley rats (Harlan, Germany), 4–6 weeks old, weighing 230–250 g were used and handled in accordance with institutional and national guidelines. The rats were housed in groups in standard laboratory cages in temperature-controlled conditions and fed with a standard laboratory chow diet and tap water ad libitum. The fundamental ethical principles of working with animals were respected during the experiments. All animal procedures were performed following the Croatian Law for the Protection of Laboratory Animals, which has been harmonized with the EU legislation (Council Directive 86/609/EEC, following the “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and were approved by the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka (EP 87/2017), and by a national authority (Ministry of Agriculture), license HR-POK-024).