Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and F12 culture medium, antibiotics, fetal bovine serum (FBS), trypsin, NuPAGE Novex 10% Bis-Tris gels, fluorescent secondary antibody, and superScript II RNase H reverse transcription kit were obtained from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA, USA). Endothelial cell growth supplement (ECGS) was from Upstate Biotechnology (Lake Placid, NY, USA), and insulin-transferrin-selenium mix (ITS), 7-amino-4-trifluoro-methylcoumarin (AFC), Streptozotocin (STZ), Dexamethasone, primary mouse anti-α tubulin antibody, and commonly used chemicals and reagents were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich Chemical (St. Louis, MO, USA). miRIDIAN miRNA mimic or inhibitor for miR-146a and negative controls (scrambled) were obtained from Dharmacon (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, USA). mirVana miRNA Isolation Kit, TaqMan miRNA Assay, TaqMan miRNA Assay Reverse Transcription kit, Power SYBR Green PCR Master Mix, and TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix II without UNG were from Applied Biosystems (Foster City, CA, USA).