The extracted blood was divided in two sets of Eppendorf tubes. One
set contained 500 U sodium heparinate/mL, used as an anticoagulant,
for hematology (hemoglobin, haematocrit and red blood cell counting).
The second setwas left to clot at 4 °C and centrifuged at 5000 rpm
for 5 min at room temperature. The collected serum was stored at
−20 °C for further assays.