*2.10. Determination of Cell Viability*

HT22 cells were seeded into 10-cm dishes and cultured in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin-streptomycin at 37 ◦C in a humidified incubator containing 5% CO2.

Cell viability was measured by CCK-8 assay. Briefly, the cells were cultured at a density of 5 <sup>×</sup> 103 cells per well into 96-well plates. When the cells reached 70–80% confluence, they were pre-treated with 400 μM CORT for 24 h, and then treated with PAPZ with concentrations of 0.5, 5.0, and 10.0 mg/mL for 24 h in the presence of CORT. In this study, 400 μM CORT was determined as the optimal dose of cell damage model through preliminary experiments (Supplementary Figure S1). The absorbance at 450 nm was measured in an enzyme standard instrument.
