Co-culture of OECs or siRNA OECs with HAPI microglial cells

The co-culture experimental design is shown in Figure ​Figure7A.7A. HAPI rat microglial cells (SCC103, Sigma-Aldrich, Germany) were seeded in 6-well plates (1×10⁵ cells each). To induce HAPI cell reactivity, we used 1 mg/mL of LPS diluted in complete medium for 4 h. OECs or siRNA OECs were seeded (1×10⁵ cells each) in Transwell plate inserts (Millipore). HAPI cells were co-cultured with the OECs or siRNA OECs for another 24 h. To explore their roles in modulating inflammation, the culture supernatants were used for ELISA of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNFα (ab100785, Abcam, Cambridge, UK), IL-1β (ab100767, Abcam, Cambridge, UK), and IL-6 (ab100772, Abcam, Cambridge, UK).