*2.13. Statistical Analysis*

Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism, version 8.20 for Mac (GraphPad software, La Jolla, CA, USA). Unpaired t-test (two-tailed) was applied for hypothesis testing, if normal distribution of data was not negated after evaluating histograms and QQ-plots. If normal distribution of data was rejected, then the Mann-Whitney *U* test was applied. The significance level α was set to 0.05; *p*-values < 0.05 were labeled with an asterisk (\*). For explorative analyses, unpaired t-tests (two-tailed) were performed where appropriate. No correction for multiple comparisons was applied. Data are depicted as means or median ± 95% confidence intervals or SEM.
