*4.10. Statistical Analysis*

Data are expressed as the mean ± standard deviation (SD). Data analysis was performed using Welch's *t*-test. A *p* value less than 0.05 was considered to indicate significance.

**Author Contributions:** In the present study, E.K., H.T., A.M. and A.S. performed the research, M.T. and K.K. designed the research study, N.S., M.G., M.S., K.Y., N.T., M.S., Y.K., K.S., J.K., K.I., T.M., K.K., Y.I. and R.M. analyzed the data, Y.I. contributed the knockout mice for the study, and E.K. and K.K. wrote the paper.

**Funding:** This work was supported in part by a Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (B) (19H03918), a Grant-in-aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (17K19710) and a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (19K19494) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors have declared no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.
