Animals
Male and female Wistar rats weighing 170-250 g at the time of OA induction were obtained from the breeding farm of the Military Medical Academy (Belgrade, Serbia). Housing conditions were maintained at 22 ± 1°C and 60% relative humidity in a controlled 12-hour light-dark cycle. The animals were housed in groups of five and had free access to food and water. All experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia (approval number: 323-07-09456/2020-05), and were conducted in accordance with EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments and ARRIVE guidelines. The total number of animals used in the study was 105; 51 male and 54 female rats.