*2.1. Materials*

CORT was purchased from Takyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). The Chinese herbs *P. ginseng*, *A. sinensis*, *P. tenuifolia* Willd, and *Z. spinosae* Semen were purchased from Beijing Tong Ren Tang Guangzhou Pharmaceutical chain Co., Ltd. (Guangzhou, China). The HT22 cell line was purchased from Tong Pai Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) and penicillin/streptomycin were obtained from Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY, USA). Fetal bovine serum (FBS) was purchased from Invitrogen Corporation (Carlsbad, CA, USA). The cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-Annexin V apoptosis detection kit were purchased from Beyotime Biotechnology (Shanghai, China). Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-related kits, the FastQuant RT kit, and Super Real PreMix Plus were purchased from Tiangen Biotech CO., Ltd. (Beijing, China). The SOD assay kit and malondialdehyde (MDA) assay kit were obtained from Nanjing Jiancheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (Nanjing, China). Anti-BDNF and anti-β-tubulin were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA, USA). All other chemicals were of analytical grade and used as received.
