Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats (200-300 g, 8 weeks old) were purchased from the Animal Experiment Center of Fudan University. Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operation group (n = 10), SCI group (n = 10), SCI + ferroptosis inhibitor group (SCI + ferrostatin1) (n = 10), and SCI + DHODH Inhibitor group (SCI + teriflunomide) (n = 10). Ten rats in the sham group only received laminectomy without SCI. To induce spinal cord injury, spinal cord injury surgery was performed in the middle thoracic region of rats (T8-T9).

Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats (200-300 g, 8 weeks old) were purchased from the Animal Experiment Center of Fudan University. Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham operation group (n = 10), SCI group (n = 10), SCI + ferroptosis inhibitor group (SCI + ferrostatin1) (n = 10), and SCI + DHODH Inhibitor group (SCI + teriflunomide) (n = 10). Ten rats in the sham group only received laminectomy without SCI. To induce spinal cord injury, spinal cord injury surgery was performed in the middle thoracic region of rats (T8-T9).

4-week male C57BL/6J mice (20-22 g) were obtained from the vital river and preconditioned for one week. Mice were divided into two groups, either exposed to benzene or fresh air in the exposure system for 6 h/day, 6 days/week, for two months. In the last exposure day, the mice were fast for 10 h. Subsequently, the mice were injected with tribromoethanol (T48402, Sigma, USA) (300 mg/kg).

5 x 10⁶ HT-1080 or 1 x 10⁷ NCI-H226 cells were injected into mice subcutaneously. When the tumor reached 50-100 mm³, the mice were assigned randomly into different treatment groups. Brequinar or sulfasalazine was dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and diluted in PBS. Brequinar was intraperitoneally injected into mice at a dose of 30 mg/kg every three days. Sulfasalazine was intraperitoneally injected daily at a dose of 100 mg/kg. Liproxstatin-1 diluted in PBS was intraperitoneally injected daily at a dose of 10 mg/kg. The daily injection of brequinar, sulfasalazine, or liproxstatin-1 was continued until the endpoint as indicated in the corresponding figures.