2.1. Cell lines and reagents

Raw264.7 cells and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC; Manassas, VA, USA). The cell line, 3LL, was a gift from Institute of Immunology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine. All cells were cultured in DMEM (NORTHEND, Hangzhou, China) with 10% foetal bovine serum (FBS, Gibco BRL Co., Ltd., Houston, TX, USA), 100 U/mL penicillin and 100 U/mL streptomycin (Solarbio, Beijing, China), at 37℃ in 5% CO₂. Dioscin was purchased from Shanghai Tauto Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd (Shanghai, China). Stock solution of dioscin was made at 20 mmol/L concentration in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) (Sangon Biotech, Shanghai, China) and stored at −20℃. The final concentration of DMSO for all treatments was less than 0.1%.